23 million pounds is a lot of cash, no question about it. But 65 million pounds is also a lot cash -- some would say almost three times more than 23 million pounds.
My point isn't that 23 million pounds cash saved isn't significant, but that at the time we saved 23 million we seem to have wasted 65 million pounds. I'm a huge fan of Donny Van de Beek and have flogged Ole here for rotting Donny on the bench and running Bruno into the ground. But whether I'm right or wrong about the management of Donny it's undeniable now that there really isn't room for Donny on our roster unless we sell Pogba, and I doubt anyone here wants to sell Pogba, and that the 35 million we spent on Donny was in fact 35 million pounds wasted on a player who barely came off the bench in the 85th minute and came nowhere near appearing in the EL final.
Let's not wander into a strawman argument. No one is arguing that "spunking everything to get that one player will make all the difference". The question before us is whether we were wise to spend 65m on three players who barely even played for United in 20-21 rather than spending the additional 23m on a player who would have made a substantial difference -- no, not "all the difference". It may well be the case that Diallo, Pellistri and Van de Beek will all be regular starters and making significant contributions for United in 21-22 although I see no evidence that that is likely to be the case. If nothing else, we could have saved the 35m we spent on Donny, spent the 100m on Sancho -- although inquiring minds would have reasonably asked why we're buying three RW players, even if it's true that Sancho can easily play on the left as he does the right.
Sancho may turn out to be a flop for us if that's the case we're wasting only 77m pounds instead of 100m pounds for him. But every one of us assumes right now Sancho will be a sensation for United and if that proves to be the case did the saving of 23m between this summer transfer window and last summer transfer pay off? For the Glazers it certainly does, but then someone should mention to the Glazers in a staff meeting that we spent 65m on three players last summer with absolutely zero return on that investment. And even if Diallo develops into a very tidy RW it's hard to see how he gets regular starts in a squad that has Sancho, Rashford, Greenwood, Cavani and Martial (I'd sell Martial, but who would buy him now?) on it, as well as Elanga, who looks a real prospect. And it's even harder to see how Pellistri fits in. As for Van de Beek, who cost us 35m pounds, that does in retrospect at least seem a fool's purchase.
At any rate, it's better to look at the glass half full and be relieved that Sancho is finally coming to United. But I hope Murtagh does not take a page out of Woody's playbook and shovel 65 into the furnace to acquire players the manager isn't going to use. If the manager is committed in his belief in a certain player as Ole clearly is with Sancho, is it really smart business to save 23m on him by waiting a year to bring him in and instead spend 65m at the time on players the manager isn't going to use? Perhaps, but not likely. We did end up in second place in the PL and EL so it could be argued that it was indeed shrewd business to hold off on Sancho for another season in order to save 23m, but that still doesn't rationalize in any way why we spent nearly three times that 23m on players who had no impact in 20-21, and probably will have no impact in 21-22 except as squad players at best.