Manchester United's season began on Friday night with the news that they had agreed a deal worth up to £70m for the Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba. It continued the following lunchtime with a 2-0 defeat at Hull City, a promoted side who had not beaten them in the league since 1974. The two events sit awkwardly beside one another, because the part of Michael Carrick's team that failed on Saturday is the part he has spent all summer not addressing.
Baleba will be the third midfielder to arrive at Old Trafford this window, after Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans. United will pay an initial £65m with a further £5m in add-ons, and Brighton have negotiated a sell-on clause. Once the move completes it takes the club's summer outlay to £153m. Not all of that concentration was a choice: Casemiro left when his contract expired, and Manuel Ugarte, who had been expected to move on, suffered a serious knee injury on World Cup duty. A midfield that lost two senior players had to be restocked.
The department nobody bought for
What it did not do was buy a forward, and the forwards were the problem. Carrick named Matheus Cunha through the middle with Bryan Mbeumo to the right, Patrick Dorgu on the left and Bruno Fernandes behind them. Marcus Rashford, back after a season on loan at Barcelona and now wearing the number nine, came on at half-time. Benjamin Sesko followed after 66 minutes. Joshua Zirkzee was not used at all. None of it made any difference to the scoreline. "Man United were dreadful in all positions, particularly up front," Alan Shearer said afterwards. "They offered nothing."