Man Utd target Hjulmand is the anti-Casemiro in a Ratcliffe era of unknowns coming good | OneFootball

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is looking to change Manchester United's transfer strategy.

‘Who on earth is Morten Hjulmand?’ was our first reaction to hearing Manchester United’s interest in the £69m midfielder. But not knowing bodes well for the Ratcliffe era.

Gary Neville will bang this drum for as long as anyone is still listening. Having claimed it was a mistake when the deal was done, he stuck to his guns when Casemiro was playing well, and is now incredibly smug now he’s not. He’s not wrong. Signing a 30-year-old on a four-year contract which, when combined with the transfer fee, will cost United over £130m is not good business.

It was the move cited by Sir Jim Ratcliffe as an example of Manchester United’s ‘questionable recruitment’ when he visited the club back in March. They chased Frenkie de Jong for months, despite it being pretty clear from the get-go that he had no interest in moving to Old Trafford, panicked at the end of the transfer window and overpaid for a midfielder with a far shorter shelf life.

Sir Dave Brailsford is in the midst of an eight-week audit at United, during which he will be sounding out sporting director candidates and working out a recruitment structure to prevent future Casemiros. Reports suggest there will be outgoings in January – like Jadon Sancho and Hannibal Mejbri – but arrivals will be tricky due to FFP restrictions and, more plainly, because the people set to be in charge of transfers aren’t actually in charge yet.

There are hints at a change of approach though.

Reports last week claimed United were vying with Brighton (never a bad idea) to sign Ecuadorian teen Oscar Zambrano as they ‘did not want to repeat the same mistake it made by passing up the opportunity to sign Moises Caicedo’. It looks like Zambrano is now off to Bournemouth, but at least United showed willing to tap a market they and so many other big clubs have for some reason ignored to their detriment.

And it was claimed on Wednesday that United are also interested in Sporting Lisbon midfielder Morten Hjulmand. Scouts have watched the 24-year-old ‘at least six times already this season’, with Christian Eriksen providing an ‘additional allure’ as a ‘close friend’ of the Denmark international.

Excuse us for baring our Premier League-centric souls, but our first reaction was ‘who on earth is Morten Hjulmand?’ As was our second having read that Sporting want £69m for him.

74 appearances for Austrian side Admira Wacka and 95 for Lecce before moving to Sporting for £15m in the summer. It’s not your typical career path to Manchester United, whose scouting network arms fail to stretch beyond Champions League clubs from their base at the Johan Cruyff Arena.

Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount, Andre Onana, Antony, Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Lisandro Martinez, Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo are all either big-name, big-money or big-name and big-money signings made in the last three seasons. It came as no surprise to anyone that United were linked with and ultimately signed those players.

Casemiro is reportedly angling for an exit from Man Utd.

Jonny Evans, Altay Bayindir and Tyrell Malacia are the exceptions to the United rule that has seen them overpay for players whose market value has at best dwindled and at worst plummeted in their time at Old Trafford.

£60m Casemiro is now worth £26m. Antony has dropped from a market value high of £70m when he signed for £85m to just £30m in 18 months. Borussia Dortmund have just paid £3.5m for six months of Jadon Sancho, two-and-a-half years after they pocketed £73m for him. United essentially paid Chelsea £55m for a year of Mason Mount.

They’re all truly terrible decisions, made even worse in hindsight, and mainly involved very public transfer sagas which only serve to increase the staying power of the selling clubs and the demands of the players’ representatives to squeeze as much money out of United as possible.

It’s the key thing Ratcliffe and Brailsford will be looking to change at United, and us not knowing who the hell Morten Hjulmand is bodes well for a future in which relative unknowns could come good at Old Trafford, where superstars have all too readily gone bad in recent times.