Man United sign Sporting star and Serie A gem as £220m monster transfer window second half spend predicted

For a club who was supposedly going bust by Christmas before extreme cost-cutting (and misery-adding) measures by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, it’s amazing how quickly Manchester United have been able to bounce back and start spending £130m on attacking midfielders.

But given they seem to have found oil under Old Trafford we asked Grok to give them a helping hand for the rest of the summer. Of course, that claim always looked like exaggeration at best, something which myself, and more credibly football finance expert Kieran Maguire dispute with Maguire calling it “very disingenuous” in an interview with The Telegraph where he added:

"For a company that’s floated on the New York Stock Exchange, that’s quite an inflammatory comment. To me, it’s incredibly unprofessional. If you take a look at the share price last night, it dipped. Not significantly. But you would think that somebody who is used to running a business would be aware of coming out with market-sensitive comments like that."

However, the state of Manchester United has got so bad that when the parody account Just Bizarre Tactics tweeted that Ratcliffe (who’s worth £17 billion) had started a GoFundMe to help raise money to finalise the Mbeumo deal then a user genuinely asked Grok if it true. So many fans are wondering just how they’ve managed to spend well over three figures on just two players.

And they may be scratching their heads even more if Grok’s prediction is to be believed, as it’s backed Ratcliffe to splash another £220m before the window slams shut, with plenty of holes still gaping in Ruben Amorim’s starting side, and plenty of holes set to gaping in Old Trafford’s matchday operations when the knight of the realm fires another round of minimum wage staff to fund it. Or just for kicks.

However, Grok believes Ratcliffe isn’t just stuffing Stretford Jobcentre to enable further spending, as it (perhaps optimistically) predicts around £185m of sales to come in August. Who from and how will the Red Devils spend it? Let’s find out…

New-look midfield boosts Amorim’s chances

The AI does address striker, but what may be even more important may be its double-fix in midfield, costing a cool £100m. First up is Morten Hjulmand, Amorim’s captain from holding midfield at Sporting. The 26-year-old Dane was an ever-present for the boss before his move to Manchester United, and now joins him for £15m to revamp the midfield alongside Ederson.

Not the Manchester City goalkeeper of course - even Grok isn’t that silly, or politically incorrect, or whatever its excuse was for its far-right meltdown - it’s Atalanta star Ederson who’s also been capped by Brazil. Meanwhile Khephren Thuram would be a solid deputy alongside Kobbie Mainoo for £30m, and hat trio would be a serious upgrade on Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte, who often started in the midfield pairing last season.

And Manchester United fans get their wish up front as Benjamin Sesko becomes the Red Devils’ new number nine. Despite a disrupted 2024/25 season, Sesko’s goal tally of 21 in all competitions would’ve comfortably made him Amorim’s best finisher last campaign though Grok believes it will cost the club £75m.

Just as crucial, though not as high-profile, could be a new face between the sticks to replace Calamity Onana and Royal Antwerp’s Senne Lammens is the man for the job according to Grok.

Why does Grok back Hojlund to Inter for £40m?

Yes, thinking that Manchester United can upgrade from Hojlund to Sesko for just £35m seems hard to believe, but so does Chelsea asking £100m for Nicolas Jackson and that’s reportedly the case. Weird things are happening up front in the Premier League this summer. Meanwhile Grok believes the sale of Garnacho to Napoli for a whopping £60m could further boost the Red Devils’ budget.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis believes he can become “twice the player” he currently is if he leaves Old Trafford (though cynical United fans may point out that double zero is still zero) according to the Daily Mail, as a Napoli attack of ex-Mancunians Garnacho, Scott McTominay, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne could terrorise Serie A.

Borussia Dortmund fans may not be quite as energised by the possibility of Jadon Sancho returning to Signal Iduna Park for a third spell at just 25 years of age, nor with Grok’s prediction that he’ll cost them £20m.

Likely in the same boat will be Celtic fans, who get the privilege of signing Tyrell Malacia for the same fee after Grok described him as ‘injury prone’. And if the AI can fulfill its prediction of selling Antony to Newcastle for £45m, it will have done more for the Red Devils than Ratcliffe, Amorim, Dan Ashworth or at least half of their managers since Alex Ferguson’s retirement.

AI-predicted 2025/26 Manchester starting XI: Sticking with Amorim’s not-so-trusty 3-4-2-1, Grok picked this side to start Manchester United’s season opener: Onana; de Ligt, Martinez, Mazraoui; Dalot, Hjulmand, Mainoo, Dorgu; Fernandes, Cunha; Sesko.