‘No European football means less money to spend, and less reason to choose Manchester United over others’ Brian McClair on Manchester United’s major transfer issue this summer

Manchester United began the summer knowing that there was significant work to be done in the transfer window following the club’s dire 15th-place finish last season.

That was by far the club’s worst finish of the Premier League era and was partly down to some of their more expensive transfer misfires catching up with them.

As the 2025/26 Premier League campaign gets underway, the club have focused their efforts in the transfer market on attacking players, with the likes of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko coming for combined fees of more than £200million.

Brian McClair on Manchester United’s big transfer issue

Despite the arrival of this attacking trio, gaps remain in the squad and former Red Devils forward Brian McClair believes that a lack of European football has cost his old side in the market this summer.

“It would’ve been a lot easier to bring in quality players this summer with the attraction of the Champions League,” the Scot tells FourFourTwo. “No European football means less money to spend, and less reason to choose Manchester United over others.

“The key when you’re in a situation like United, is to bring in players you know are going to be able to perform at this level,” McClair, who won eight major honours with the club, adds.

“You can afford to take a few gambles when you’re on top and winning things but a team struggling for form, to pick up wins, it’s vital you bring in experience that won’t need time to settle.

“Sometimes you need players with big egos, people who aren’t afraid to grab the limelight,” McClair continues. “You saw last term how much Rasmus Hojlund struggled. He’s still learning his craft, while being tasked with scoring goals for a side that has really struggled to create chances. I felt for him.

“That’s where you need big-game players to step up and alleviate some pressure. The only one who regularly did that last season was Bruno Fernandes. That has to change.”

This is also the first summer transfer window of Ruben Amorim’s tenure and McClair believes the Portuguese needs to get a certain type of player in.

“The manager has a clear idea of how he likes to set his teams up and win games,” McClair says. “He has been wedded so far to his back three and I can’t see that changing, so it’s about bringing in the right faces to make that system work. It’s been clear since he arrived that not everybody already at the club was suited to it. He needs the right mix of players to make that work.”

For more than a decade, Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor. Mewis has had stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others and worked at FourFourTwo throughout Euro 2024, reporting on the tournament. In addition to his journalist work, Mewis is also the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team. Now working as a digital marketing coordinator at Harrogate Town, too, Mewis counts some of his best career moments as being in the iconic Spygate press conference under Marcelo Bielsa and seeing his beloved Leeds lift the Championship trophy during lockdown.