Everyone thinks that Manchester United need a lot of improvement right now but signing 113 players might have been a bit much, and that's how many players they were linked with in January.
United have always been linked with plenty of player during transfer windows and they had a great need to sign players in January because of their poor form in the Premier League this season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted a central midfielder and the saga to sign Bruno Fernandes lasted far too long. On deadline day the Red Devils did the most surprising deal of the window by loaning Odion Ighalo.
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But throughout the entirety of January they were linked with a ridiculous 113 different players, with the Mirror collating all the names United were supposedly in the market for.
Goalkeepers: Nathan Bishop (Southend United), Brad Young (Hartlepool).
Defenders: Logan Pye (Sunderland), Thomas Meunier (Paris Saint-Germain), Marash Kumbulla (Verona), Samuel Umtiti ( Barcelona), Issa Diop ( West Ham United), Ben White (Leeds United), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Christian Kabasele (Watford), Ricardo Pereira ( Leicester City), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Toby Alderweireld ( Tottenham Hotspur), Layvin Kurzawa (Paris Saint-Germain), Nelson Semedo (Barcelona), Jean-Clair Todibo (Barcelona), Ruben Dias (Benfica), Valentin Antov (CSKA Sofia), Merih Demiral ( Juventus), Mohammed Salisu (Real Valladolid), Milan Skriniar (Inter Milan), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Daniele Rugani (Juventus).
Midfielders: Eric-Junior Dina Ebimbe (Paris-Saint Germain), Matias Vecino (Inter Milan), Efrain Morales (Atlanta United), Ruben Neves (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Toni Kroos ( Real Madrid), Sean Longstaff ( Newcastle United), Todd Cantwell (Norwich City), Gedson Fernandes (Benfica), Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Agustin Almendra (Boca Juniors), Fabian Ruiz (Napoli), Boubakary Soumare (Lille), Donny van de Beek (Ajax), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona), Jude Bellingham (Birmingham City), Saul Niguez (Atletico Madrid), Dani Olmo (Dinamo Zagreb), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma), Eduardo Camavinga (Rennes), Leandro Paredes (Paris Saint-Germain), Sandro Tonali (Brescia), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Arturo Vidal (Barcelona), Dejan Kulusevski (Atalanta), Denis Zakaria (Borussia Monchengladbach), Bruno Fernandes (Sporting Lisbon), Ezequiel Barco (Atlanta United), Nicolo Zaniolo (Roma), Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen), James Maddison (Leicester City), Matheus Pereira (West Bromwich Albion), Gianluca Busio (Sporting Kansas City), Emre Can (Juventus), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds United), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), James Rodriguez (Real Madrid), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur), Dwight McNeil ( Burnley), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Declan Rice (West Ham United), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), Sander Berge (Genk).
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Forwards: Maxi Gomez (Valencia), Jean-Kevin Augustin (RB Leipzig), Islam Slimani (Leicester City), Carlos Tevez (Boca Juniors), Fernando Llorente (Napoli), Krzysztof Piatek (AC Milan), Wayne Rooney (Derby County), Arkadiusz Milik (Napoli), Emmanuel Dennis (Club Brugge), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Odsonne Edouard (Celtic), Raul Jimenez (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Dominic Calvert-Lewin ( Everton), Lucas Moura (Tottenham Hotspur), Luka Jovic (Real Madrid), Takumi Minamino (Red Bull Salzburg), Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain), Vedat Muriqi (Fenerbahce), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid), Richarlison (Everton), Mathis Rayan Cherki (Lyon), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Erling Haaland (Red Bull Salzburg), Ricky-Jade Jones (Peterborough United), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Edin Dzeko (Roma), Danny Loader (Reading), Joe Gelhardt (Wigan Athletic), Mario Mandzukic (Juventus), Jovan Malcolm (West Bromwich Albion), Memphis Depay (Lyon), Wilfried Zaha ( Crystal Palace), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (LA Galaxy), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig), Moussa Dembele (Lyon), Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan), Salomon Rondon (Dalian Yifang), Olivier Giroud ( Chelsea), Josh King ( Bournemouth), Teemu Pukki (Norwich City), Adolfo Gaich (San Lorenzo), Danny Ings ( Southampton), Odion Ighalo (Shanghai Shenhua).
In all that splits down to two goalkeepers, with United actually adding Southend's Nathan Bishop to the side, 21 defenders, 45 midfielders and 45 forwards.
Ed Woodward has come under a lot of criticism by United fans in the six years since he took over the running of the club and recent lack of transfers hasn't helped.
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Though they bought in Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James in the summer, on top of January's signings, the club have let Ander Herrera, Marouane Fellaini, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Matteo Darmian, Chris Smalling, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young all go in the past year.
Even before the departures there was acknowledgement from most the team needed more players and certainly greater quality.
Saturday's 0-0 draw, and further failure to close the gap on Chelsea in the top four, further proves how many more players United need, just not 113.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Bruno Fernandes, Football News, Deadline Day, ed woodward, Manchester United, Transfer stories, Transfer rumours, Premier League, Transfer news, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer