How Man City forced Man United to rip up their summer transfer plans | OneFootball

Manchester City’s humbling defeat of their bitter rivals United last season apparently had an extraordinary effect on the Red Devils and their plans going forward.

United lost 2-0 to City at Old Trafford in April – a result which saw Roy Keane sit in the Sky Sports studio and tear into the “bluffers” at the club who would throw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer “under the bus”.

And that defeat to Pep Guardiola’s men resulted in an emergency meeting among the senior figures at United, who ripped up their transfer plans for this coming summer as a result.

The London Evening Standard say that United had planned to bring in more established star names during the off-season – a Galactico policy that Ed Woodward prefers.

However Solskjaer, and assistant manager Mike Phelan, used the City defeat – and that week’s previous loss to Everton – as proof that the marquee signings had not worked, and should not be used as a way forward for the club.

Just 12 hours after the loss to the eventual Premier League champions, Solskjaer and Phelan sat down at their Carrington training base and managed to persuade Woodward that the way forward was to sign younger, hungrier players, and use their energy as a thrust to to make it back into the Champions League.

The signing of Daniel James from Swansea is the first piece in that particular puzzle, with Aaron Wan-Bisska and Sean Longstaff also being targeted.

So if United have a miraculous turnaround this coming season, with their young stars taking the club back to their normal place in the top four, then you can thank their neighbours at the Etihad.