Manchester United have deliberately focused on signing players they believe have their best years ahead of them during Ineos’ first transfer window in charge of the club.
The double deal with Bayern Munich for Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui on Tuesday night took the club to four new arrivals before the start of the Premier League season, with the centre-back arriving for €45m with a further €5m in add-ons, and full-back Mazraoui for €15m and €5m in potential add-ons.
It takes the spending spree in the first window being overseen by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s new-look football executive to €182.5m (£156.6m) after Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee arrived earlier in the summer for €62.5m + €8m and €42.5m respectively.