Man United sign £35m wing-back and Empoli starlet in bold new January transfer window prediction

Arsenal can cancel their Premier League parade, Manchester United have won three successive top flight games for the first time in 18 months and the next stop is a domestic double.

And it turns out all Amorim needed to win consecutive games league was a year in charge, £250m spent in 2025 alone and ostracising not one, not two but three potentially generational players.

Literally the first positive thing to come in the Amorim era, Casemiro’s upturn in form has given Manchester United some stability in midfield, their attackers are beginning to hit their stride and The Red Devils are also feeling the benefit of avoiding European football.

However, they still have a way to go challenge for silverware, especially as this purple patch has sadly come after their titanic League Cup battle with Grimsby, and making quality additions in the January transfer window will be critical to continuing this improvement.

So we fired up the Football Manager 2026 beta, jumped forward to next February and here’s what it predicted for Manchester United

Double-Chelsea raid and Bundesliga swoop in transfer prediction

Mkhaylo Mudryk - loan from Chelsea - A completely wild prediction to kick us off given Mudryk is still banned from playing football and is facing up to four years away from the fame for if found guilty of doping offences. Equally wild is the fact he could serve that ban and still have years remaining on his Chelsea contract.

Bogdan Popov - £8.5 million from Empoli - another Ukranian, Popov has taken to senior football like a duck to water this season. Having only turned 18 in April, Popov is lighting up Serie B having struck four goals in seven games at a strike rate of exactly one every 90 minutes. He’d need to be eased into the Manchester United side but £8.5m could turn out to be a bargain if Popov can continue at anything like that level.

Axel Disasi - £17.25m from Chelsea - To paraphrase Moneyball - you want to sign not one, but two defective Chelsea players to improve Manchester United? Yes, says FM26. On the bright side, Disasi looks like a Premier League stalwart compared to Mudryk, largely because he’s played in the division in 2025. The ball-playing centre back certainly has the potential to further strengthen Amorim’s backline, though both he and Leny Yoro prefer the right side of a back three so one would need to switch.

David Raum - £35m from RB Leipzig - Raum has racked up almost 250 appearances at full-back or wing-back and has been very good while doing so. Out of Europe’s top five leagues, Raum is the best full-back for expected assisted goals (xAG) and ranks in the top 3% for shot-creating actions, top 5% for expected goals (excluding penalties) and xAG combined, and the top 6% for assists.

His defending isn’t a strength but it’s solid enough and his instincts are fantastic as Raum excels at blocking shots and making interceptions. The bigger issue is that FM26 has once again targeted the right position on the wrong side. Raum hasn’t lined up on the right since 2018 and 27 isn’t typically an age that many footballers reinvent themselves in a new position.

Sancho and Malacia finally released from Old Trafford

Jadon Sancho - £1.6m to Barcelona - A deal that would only represent a £71.4m loss for The Red Devils (a sum that they could’ve instead spent on Victor Osimhen in 2020, or Alexander Isak in 2022), Sancho’s contract expires in 2026 so at least Manchester United would get something for their erstwhile former star signing. Meanwhile Barcelona get the opportunity to see if they can produce a similar transformation on Sancho as they have for Marcus Rashford.

Senne Lammens - loan to Nottingham Forest - Definitely a headscratcher, we can only assume FM26’s creators will update the game with the last month’s worth of football before they release the game in early November.

Tyrell Malacia - £1m to Como - Malacia’s contract expires next season so as with Sancho, this would simply be a case of Manchester United cashing in on a player who likely won’t play a minute for them this season.

After eight games in Serie A, Como are well in the race for European football sat sixth and just two points off the Champions League places, so paying over the odds for the Dutch international would be more than worth it if he could help them qualify for continental football for the first time ever.

Jack Fletcher - £325,000 to Burnley - A winner of the U18 Premier League with both Manchester clubs, Fletcher has been a mainstay in Manchester United’s Premier League 2 team this season but would have a clearer path to the first team by moving a few miles across the border in Lancashire.

United also apparently switch Harry Amass’ loan home from Sheffield Wednesday to Portsmouth and send James Scanlon to AFC Wimbledon, Tyler Fletcher to Barrow and Shea Lacey to Burton Albion.