You might suggest there is more than one elephant in the room at Manchester United right now.
Crucially, though, the one that really matters is not how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's comments about Marcus Rashford — which had to be clarified during his pre-Atalanta press conference — were interpreted or presented by regional or national media outlets across the board.
Spoiler alert, the biggest elephant is *that* problematic defensive midfield position.
Having finished as runners-up to Manchester City last season, the Premier League giants issued a real statement of intent by signing Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
If those first two pieces of transfer business addressed other issues within the United system, then the sensational return of a player who became one the all-time greats during his first spell at Old Trafford, between 2003 and 2009, was nothing short of a summer show-stopper.
Indeed, a deal simply had to be struck-up amid suggestions Ronaldo might end up on the other side of town.
Hindsight is, as they say, a wonderful thing. It can be pointed to by the bucket-load when questioning, or assessing, why United did not pursue a top-level holding midfielder this summer.
Solskjaer himself is understood to have been frustrated by that failure, as reported by the MEN, while early-season form has only underlined the error even further.
Action will have to be taken, but is it too late on that front?
Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo each represented excellent value for money in their own way.
In relative terms, Varane and Ronaldo came on the cheap — especially armed by those eye-catching CVs — while in Sancho, key figures at United have invested for the future. In a market shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic, his price tag, too, is some way short of what Borussia Dortmund were demanding in 2020.
Was that £72.9million the right way to go, though? Sancho will ultimately come good and, no doubt, alongside the likes of Mason Greenwood and Rashford, manager Solskjaer boasts a selection of wide forwards which are the envy of most in the Premier League scene.
Ultimately, though, what he really needed — right now — was £100million-rated Declan Rice.
Whatever your stance is on that price tag, the fact of the matter is Rice has three years left to run on his contract and West Ham know full well what he would offer teams at the top of this division.
Similarly to Tottenham with Harry Kane, they held a position of strength.
Should United have paid up for Rice this summer? Have your say in the comments section below.
United are thought to have identified Rice as a priority target for 12 months from now — despite remaining red flags over what he may cost — but would they have been better-served stumping up the cash this season and addressing Sancho further down the line?
Performances and results, with a dash of hindsight, suggest that answer is a resounding yes.
A move four years in the making, Sancho might have alerted other suitors and turned out to be one that got away. With the position United find themselves in right now, though, that might have been a literal price worth paying for the benefit of this season's flailing title credentials.
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