"I like Jonny; he's a lovely guy... but."
For the guts of the past decade, Roy Keane has been the exasperated ex-Manchester United that says what many of the club's supporters are thinking [either out loud or to themselves].
On Sunday, at The Emirates, the former United hit the nail firmly on the head when discussing the predicament Erik ten Hag's side find them in, right now.
Roy Keane on transfer woes
Although Manchester United had the
second highest net spend of the summer transfer window, among Premier League sides, the club were hamstrung by Financial Fair Play issues.
The club is up for sale and the Glazer family are reluctant to over-commit with too many new purchases and new salary deals. United moved on the likes of Anthony Elanga, Alex Telles, David De Gea, Phil Jones, Mason Greenwood, Fred and Dean Henderson, but they were left looking for cheap deals and loans as the transfer window closed.
Sergio Reguilòn, Sofyan Amrabat and veteran defender Jonny Evans were all signed to loan or short-term deals on the final day of the transfer window. Harry Maguire was kept on after Raphael Varane and Luke Shaw went down injured.
Following
United's 3-1 defeat to Arsenal, Roy Keane highlighted that the club ending up with the unwanted Harry Maguire and stop-gap Jonny Evans in the closing stages shows the trouble the club is in.
"Harry Maguire, they tried to move him on this summer," Keane observed. "Jonny Evans left the club around five years ago because he wasn't wanted... now, I like Jonny; he's a lovely guy, but you can see where they're at."
To make matters worse for United, defenders Victor Lindelof and Lisandro Martinez both went off injured in that loss to Arsenal.
United have an international break in which to get themselves sorted, defensively, but they next face Brighton's, the Premier League's top scorers (12 in four games), on September 16 before travelling to Germany to take on Harry Kane and Bayern Munich.
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