The Antony deal was completed on 1 September 2022 – transfer deadline day. It’s part of a pattern.

Although many United fans had hoped their club would have completed their business early on this summer, the reality is it was highly unlikely.

For the past six seasons, at least one senior first-team player has arrived at Old Trafford as the transfer window was about to close.

Twelve months ago, United waited until deadline day before deciding Senne Lammens would – eventually – become their new number one goalkeeper instead of Emi Martinez, who Amorim wanted to bring in from Aston Villa.

In 2024, they paid PSG £50.8 to sign Manuel Ugarte on deadline day. The year before that, experienced pair Sergio Reguilon and Sofyan Amrabat came in on loan.

The £81.3m fee for Antony, now at Real Betis, is still the second biggest fee, behind Paul Pogba, United have ever paid.

A year before that was the deal that arguably made the biggest impact. The return of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021 was supposed to be the deadline-day deal that swept the club back to the top of the table. It failed spectacularly.

In 2020, Edinson Cavani also joined on a deadline day pushed back into October because of Covid-19.

The performances of those deadline day signings may suggest it is not a great time to buy players, but rather than get irritated by it happening, maybe, as we head towards the final week of the transfer window being open, Manchester United‘s fans should have expected that is how it would work out.