The Old Trafford team feels like they are doing better in the transfer market, both in buying and selling.

Manchester City have been regarded as England’s best exporter of young talent for a long time.

Man City generate millions of pounds to reinvest back into the first team by selling academy players, and it has shown other Premier League clubs how to negotiate similar deals.

They often include high-percentage sell-on clauses in player sales agreements, making it easier to make money in the future once the player has a successful career. Man City also insert buy-back clauses, to avoid the prospect of selling a player at the wrong time.

This summer, United appointed two former City staff and have adopted a similar approach in the transfer market. The appointments of Omar Berrada (CEO), Jason Wilcox (technical director) – two former City board members – and Dan Ashworth (sporting director) have been crucial to the change.

The first player to leave Man United this summer was Alvaro Fernandez. He joined Benfica for €6m plus €3m in add-ons. Man United inserted a buy-back and sell-on clause.

Villarreal have made an offer for Willy Kambwala of €5.5m plus €6m in add-ons. The deal also includes a buy-back and sell-on clause. United are happy to receive a reasonable fee for Kambwala and are quick to move for Mason Greenwood.

Marseille paid €31.6m for Greenwood and Man United have included a sell-on clause of up to 50%. They could earn a significant portion of any future Greenwood transfer.

The decision was also made to sell Facundo Pellistri, with the player joining Panathinaikos for a fixed fee of €6m plus €2m in performance-related fees. Notably, Man Utd have a three-year buy-back option, and will receive 45% of Pellistri’s future transfer.

Will Fish, Hannibal Mejbri and Maxi Oyedele were also transferred by Man Utd in a similar way. These deals help Man Utd free up space in the squad, have more money to cover transfers, and also enjoy a percentage of the money from selling players in the future.

In addition, Man Utd also strongly pushed out players whose contracts expired but did not contribute much to the team such as Raphael Varane, Anthony Martial or even Donny van de Beek. Clearly, Man Utd is on the right track.