Manchester United enjoying a quiet transfer summer: is that a bad thing?

By the standards of the Premier League's top clubs, Manchester United is having a fairly quiet summer transfer campaign. The team's top two rookies do not fall into the category of high-profile star acquisitions. Andrei Santos joined from Chelsea for £48m ($64.1m), with a further £2m to be paid in bonuses, which shouldn't be too much of a problem to achieve. The Brazilian was not a key figure for Chelsea last season, but during pre-season the 22-year-old midfielder has emerged as one of United's best performers, impressing with calm and intelligent play in midfield. Another acquisition of the club is more status Yuri Tielemans. The Belgian moved from Aston Villa after United activated his £35m release clause. The 29-year-old midfielder, who has made 90 appearances for Belgium, made his debut for his new team as a substitute in a thrilling 1-1 friendly against Paris Saint-Germain in Gothenburg, Sweden. There will still be calls to strengthen the squad ahead of the September 1 deadline, but the absence of a major overhaul has allowed new United boss Michael Carrick to retain the stability he brought back to the squad after being appointed as caretaker manager in January. Prior to that, the club had experienced an extremely turbulent 14 months under the leadership of Ruben Amorim. Carrick fielded an unchanged starting line-up four times in 17 Premier League matches last season. Amorim managed to do this only once. The number of changes to Manchester United's starting line-up from match to match in the 2025/26 Premier League season. This bet on consistency has been preserved during the current preseason, a period when coaches are usually actively experimenting with the lineup. Carrick made just one change from last weekend's 2-1 win over Atlético in Stockholm, with Nussair Mazraoui replacing Leni Yoro. The coach also did not release Bruno Fernandes or Tielemans from the opening minutes in the game against PSG, although both were available for the match for the first time since the time off they received after the World Cup. Since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson 13 years ago, Manchester United have lived in a regime of constant change and instability. The team moved time and time again from one coach and one football philosophy to another. One way to gauge this volatility is to look at the lineup renewal rate. It shows how the distribution of playing time between football players varies from one season to another. Zero percent would mean the same players getting exactly the same amount of minutes, while 100 percent would mean a completely new lineup. At United, this rate has increased dramatically over the past decade, just as the team has gradually ceased to be a contender for the league title. Manchester United squad changes by season from 1993/94 to 2025/26. The indicator takes into account differences in the share of football players' playing minutes compared to the previous season. At the same time, Carrick's team, it is worth admitting, is still far from returning to talk of fighting for the championship. It's tempting to see the transfer market as a panacea for all of United's problems and believe that a few expensive signings will instantly bring the club closer to their former greatness. A clearer example of this approach could hardly have been the team that faced United recently. At one time, PSG saw Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe as the very players who were supposed to be the solution to all their problems. It was only after the Parisian club abandoned their obsession with superstars and moved to a more balanced formation, focused on a well-defined style of play, that PSG finally achieved the coveted Champions League triumph. Closer to United in terms of geography is Liverpool, which has demonstrated all the risks of an expensive rebuild. Last summer, the Merseysiders spent record sums on Florian Wirz and Alexander Isak, but instead of another successful season, they plummeted from the Championship to a modest fifth place. Instead, a stable core team designed for the long term should help Carrick develop United's tactical model, improve the players he already has at his disposal, and gradually build playfulness and team spirit. It is this idea that Carrick has consistently promoted during his short tenure. After the win over Atletico, he singled out team spirit and said the squad "continues to develop". This is a team with a sufficient level of talent to independently find solutions to various tactical challenges and personnel problems. A good adverb