Manchester United's £80m Target Shines While Liverpool's Loan Fails
Manchester United and Liverpool went shopping in the same market last summer. They walked out with very different bags.
A deep dive from The Athletic into all 189 Premier League signings last season has thrown up a brutal contrast: all four of United’s headline arrivals sit comfortably in the top 40, while a Liverpool deal has been savaged as the single worst move of the lot.
At the sharp end of the list, a player United now want to build around. At the very bottom, a Liverpool loan that has been described as nothing short of disastrous.
United’s business vindicated
For once, United’s recruitment department emerges with credit.
Matheus Cunha (40th), Bryan Mbeumo (38th), Benjamin Sesko (29th) and Senne Lammens (9th) all earned high praise after impressive debut campaigns at Old Trafford. Each one contributed, each one looked like a coherent part of a plan rather than a panic buy.
The real intrigue, though, lies higher up the rankings.
In eighth place sits Mateus Fernandes, the West Ham midfielder now firmly on United’s radar and valued at around £80m. The Portugal international moved to the London Stadium from Southampton for £40m and immediately became one of the few reasons for West Ham fans to keep watching as their season unravelled into relegation.
When Lucas Paqueta departed in January, Fernandes didn’t just step into the void. He owned it.
The Athletic’s assessment was emphatic: Fernandes brought “tackles, duels, recoveries, long-range worldies, piercing passes” and took on the role of chief playmaker with authority. In a side sinking fast, he kept demanding the ball, kept trying to drag them up the pitch, kept producing.
Relegation changes everything. West Ham now face the financial and sporting reality of the second tier, and a midfielder of this profile and productivity is unlikely to hang around. TEAMtalk reports that the club’s internal valuation has rocketed to an “eye-watering” £80m, but their bargaining position has been badly undercut by the drop.
United are circling.
Fernandes idolises Bruno Fernandes, the current United captain and the man who would be both mentor and midfield partner if the deal happens. Personal terms, according to TEAMtalk’s sources, would not be a problem. The questions sit on United’s side of the table: is he the right piece for a midfield rebuild, and how far are they prepared to go financially for a player whose stock has never been higher?
For a club that has too often paid top dollar for the wrong profile, this is a different kind of test. This time, the numbers are big but the evidence is strong.
Liverpool’s record spend, limited return
Across the divide, Liverpool’s summer tells a more complicated story.
They smashed their transfer record twice, first for Florian Wirtz at £116m, then for Alexander Isak at £125m. On paper, it looked like a statement window. On the pitch, the impact has been mixed.
Wirtz scraped into the top 100 at 97th, his first season in England solid rather than spectacular. Isak, hampered by injuries, slid all the way down to 172nd out of 189, a ranking that reflects a campaign constantly disrupted rather than any doubt over his quality.
Among Liverpool’s other additions, Milos Kerkez (49th) came out best, with Hugo Ekitike close behind at 50th. Giorgi Mamardashvili (73rd) and Freddie Woodman (89th) did enough to justify their places, while Jeremie Frimpong’s underwhelming year left him languishing in 119th. Giovanni Leoni, cruelly struck down by an ACL tear on debut, landed in 143rd, his season over before it began.
The numbers tell a story of heavy outlay and limited return. Yet none of those deals drew the kind of scathing verdict reserved for one move that, in the eyes of the report, failed everyone involved.
Harvey Elliott loan labelled ‘catastrophic’
Dead last. One hundred and eighty-ninth out of 189.
That’s where Harvey Elliott’s loan from Liverpool to Aston Villa landed, with The Athletic describing it as “a catastrophic deal for both clubs and the player”.
Villa surged through the season with Unai Emery as “their brain” and John McGinn as “their heart”. Elliott, the report argued, was “their appendix” – present, but ultimately expendable.
He managed just three starts. Emery clearly didn’t trust him as a key part of his structure, and when both clubs tried to untangle the situation mid-season, it only got messier.
Talks to cut the loan short in January went nowhere. Attempts in February to remove an obligation-to-buy clause – triggered after 10 appearances and left hanging when Elliott made his ninth in March – also failed. Villa then ran into an injury crisis, and still the deal sat there, unresolved and unhelpful.
The verdict was damning: “Shambolic, especially given how talented the 23-year-old attacking midfielder is.”
For Liverpool, it is a warning about where they send their best young players. For Elliott, it is a year of his career he will be desperate to move on from, his reputation still intact but his momentum badly checked.
Xhaka tops the list as Sunderland shock the league
At the very top of the rankings, another familiar name.
Granit Xhaka, once a lightning rod at Arsenal, has reinvented himself yet again at Sunderland, taking first place in the list after driving the club to a remarkable Europa League qualification in their first season back in the Premier League.
In a year of blockbuster fees and big-club drama, it was the former Arsenal midfielder who delivered the most complete, transformative signing of the campaign.
United now stand at a crossroads. The data, the eye test, and the market all point in the same direction: Mateus Fernandes is ready for a bigger stage. Liverpool, still counting the cost of a record-breaking window and a brutal loan misfire, must recalibrate.
One club looks poised to double down on a smart target. The other has to prove it can still spend big without wasting seasons – and talents – along the way.
