Manchester United have four players fighting for the same position

“United haven’t been bad with the chequebook, they’ve actually spent a lot of money,” Sir Jim Ratcliffe said earlier this year.

Manchester United’s co-owner has criticized how wasteful the club have been when it comes to splashing the cash in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. The Reds have spent north of £1billion since the legendary Scot’s departure, and the number of success stories doesn’t take long to count.

One of United’s biggest failings over the last 11 years has been how recklessly they splashed the cash, rarely getting their money’s worth. They wasted an enormous amount on players who came nowhere close to justifying such lucrative price tags.

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Few players fit this category more than Jadon Sancho and Antony. United spent a collective £158.4m to bring the interior duo to Old Trafford in back-to-back summer transfer windows.

Sancho was one of football’s most coveted stars when United swooped on him in July 2021, signing him from Borussia Dortmund, and almost everyone was confident he would replicate the form he produced in Germany in England. Three years on from his move to Old Trafford, he has scored just 12 goals in 82 appearances and has already spent six months back in Germany.

Just over a year later, following the appointment of Erik ten Hag, United looked to correct their right-back woes for the second time in as many summer windows by turning to Antony. He was handpicked by the Ten Hag and it was hoped that he would succeed where Sancho had failed.

Between them, Sancho and Antony scored 23 goals in 164 games for United. It’s an inevitable return.

But while Sancho’s United career is as good as it gets, having gone public with the Ten Hag nearly a year ago, Antony still has a chance to turn around his Old Trafford fortunes. Many United fans will argue that he should be a player that Ineos are trying to offload this summer, but that is a task much easier said than done due to a number of factors.

Very likely to still be a United player at the end of the transfer window, Antony faces the challenge of competing with three colleagues for a starting spot on the right. United’s other right-back options currently include Alejandro Garnacho, Facundo Pellistri and Amad. Sancho’s only hope of being welcomed back into that group would have been based on Ten Hag being eliminated.

With Sancho set to leave, either on loan or permanently, it’s Garnacho, Pellistri, Antony and Amad who are vying for the right-wing boss title. Garnacho was the subject of a tactical change by the Ten Hag midway through last season, switching from left to right, and ended the season starting and scoring in the FA Cup final from that flank.

He was United’s best winger by some distance last season, scoring 10 goals and registering five assists. On this evidence, the starboard berth is his to lose.

However, Antony, Amad and Pellistri will all feel that each is good enough to start week in, week out, whether at Old Trafford or elsewhere. Of that trio, Pellistri is the most likely to leave this summer, with Real Valladolid already expressing an interest in signing the Uruguayan.

Since joining United in 2020, he has played just 24 times and been out on loan twice. There is a general feeling that it would be in everyone’s best interest to secure a permanent exit.

Should that possibility materialise, United, provided Sancho is also moved on, would be reduced to three players who are options on the right. That’s a healthy and manageable figure, especially when Garnacho is equally capable of playing on the left.

Currently, United’s attacking department is overwhelmed by options on the right and a back four is unbalanced and unhealthy. However, three options are much more manageable.

Amad finally broke into Ten Hag’s thinking at the end of last season and will aim for a rise in minutes, denting Pellistri’s hopes of making the grade in the process. Together with Sancho, this summer he must move on.

If United can get the two off the books, ideally on permanent deals, their attack will have a more balanced look and they will have raised some much-needed funds. It would be a win-win for everyone.