Eric Dier and the £50m Manchester United transfer pursuit that gives Ineos a clear lesson

Manchester United’s transfer struggles are not new.

The Reds have had a haphazard approach for a number of years with frequent manager changes and a scattergun signing strategy resulting in big money being spent but the club not getting any bang for their buck. You can take your pick of any number of recent additions and find fault.

Not since Sir Alex Ferguson have United had a decent recruitment hit rate. And one such offer under Jose Mourinho is an example of how the tail was wagging the dog.

The Portuguese wanted to sign Eric Dier in 2017 and was more than happy to spend £50million to do so. He convinced Ed Woodward to table a bid, which even at the time with Dier perhaps in his prime, seemed remarkably high.

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The move didn’t materialise, with Spurs not willing to do business. But the fact it was mooted shows how muddled United’s thinking was.

They had a manager calling the transfer shots with little to no long-term plan. They were preparing to splash £50m on an England international who would not necessarily have improved the first-choice XI and who hindsight has shown would have been questionable business. Dier has had a very good Premier League career but since the 2018 World Cup he dropped down the England pecking order.

Dier is on the brink of joining Bayern Munich, surplus to requirements at Tottenham under Ange Postecoglu. Despite a dearth of centre-halves the Spurs chief has opted to play full-backs in the middle rather than select Dier. He’s dropped out of contention and is moving to the Bundesliga for under £4m.

There’s probably more of an argument for United to sign him now for