How Manchester United Sort of, Kind of, Maybe Figured Out How Transfers Work

Hey! Would you look at that!

Manchester United signed two young players for comparatively modest transfer fees. Does the new soccer-ownership group have them on right track? Or is it just a better version of what came before?

I wrote about why it’s the latter:

In Zirkzee, it's another Dutch player. And two of United's other reported targets this summer are center-back Matthijs de Ligt and fullback Noussair Mazraoui, both of whom played for Ten Hag at Ajax. Their other reported connection is to PSG defensive midfielder Manuel Ugarte, who is represented by Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes, who also represents Yoro.

The only target who falls outside of this group is Everton's center-back Jarrad Branthwaite, but he couldn't be much different from De Ligt. In 3,000-plus minutes last year, Branthwaite completed 74 progressive passes. In fewer than 1,500 minutes for Bayern, De Ligt completed 98. Why are these your two targets for the same position?

Simone Biles is incredible. Happy Friday.