You really think that many players are impressed with 'the largest fanbase on the planet, the most valuable football club in the world' ? City have not needed to outbid United in wages offers to persuade players to come to them for several years now, although we definitely did at first, paying a 'city premium' to get the top drawer players in when we first had the arab money
Of course players are impressed by a clubs fanbase. You forget that these players were once fans of the game themselves, they grew up on tales of our history and acomplishments. The very core of the club is inbedded in their systems, engrained in their DNA. You could visit literally any country on planet earth and you will hear the name of our club be spoken of in a positive light, regardless of the clubs current league position. That will never change. Such is the size, the magnitude, of a global behemoth like Manchester United. The affect this will have is everlasting. These lads crave to be a part of that history. I wouldn't say being the worlds richest club is a "pull" as such, rather it adds stabilty to the mind. A player knows fully well that when United calling for their services, the contract on offer will be considerable and substantial, in line with their ability. City will always need to outbid United in order to secure a signature both in terms of salary and the bid itself - anything less will see the player opt for United any day of the week.
Most players are concerned either about factors where city & united are on an equal footing (Climate, language, which league, etc i.e. factors that are determined by which city the clubs is in), or the chance of winning trophies, or the manager, or the playing style. In that respect, since SAF left United, City have had he upper hand. Most players (since SAF left) will have perceived a greater chance of success at City than United when weighing up a potential move and as at today, still will. To think that for more than a tiny handful of players, that will be outweighed by the pull of United's history or fanbase is so far fetched I'm struggling to remain polite.
Not all players value cash above their integrity and honour, some play for the love of the game. The mercenaries of the world, of which their are a great many unfortunately, will of course disregard history, honour and integrity in favour of cold hard cash. Such is the game in 2017. You talk of success is if it were guaranteed for your club, it isn't. You are yet to win anything significant, in fact Jose is leading the trophy race between himself and Pep. United are currently sitting second in the table in a league which is widely considered to be the most competitive in the world- we're not languishing at the bottom of the 3rd division as your post would imply. We're doing fine right now with a huge ceiling with which to improve. You may win the title come the end of the season, but I guarantee that given another summer transfer window with which to work his magic, Jose will have United challenging harder than ever the following season.
Of course we needed the cash injection to compete. But now we compete on the field. That's far more important to (the majority of) players. It will become more so with each passing year, as United's history is just that - history. Players by & large are interested in the now first, then the future, then the past. In that order.
Spoken like a true City fan, complete and utter disregard for a clubs history and what is infintely worse a players integrity. "it's all about the here and now" he says. Wrong. It's all about the here and now for the mercenaries who simply wish to be paid a handsome sum of money, for others not so much.
do not want 