A report has outlined just how bad the summer transfer window was for Manchester United, with director of football Jason Wilcox failing to land seven top targets who would have transformed their squad.

Man Utd decided to rebuild their midfield in the summer to replace the likes of Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte. They spent a combined £155million to bring in Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba.

Man Utd also paid Tottenham Hotspur £8m for promising young winger Tynan Thompson, and captured Karl Darlow from Leeds United as their new backup goalkeeper.

However, Man Utd refused to pay the huge money required to sign elite midfield targets such as Elliot Anderson and Sandro Tonali.

They also failed to sign Newcastle United left-back Lewis Hall as cover for Luke Shaw, and decided against bringing in a centre-forward to replace Joshua Zirkzee.

Those transfer failures left Michael Carrick seriously short, and resulted in the head coach losing his job on Thursday.

Laurie Whitwell of The Athletic has provided a deep dive into Carrick’s United spell and his ultimate sacking.

Whitwell reveals just how bad Wilcox’s recruitment was over the summer, as he missed out on seven transformative midfield signings before settling for Tielemans, Santos and Baleba.

‘Carrick understood the financial limitations, but the midfield additions they did make were seventh or eighth on United’s list, when considering No 1 was Elliot Anderson, followed by Mateus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali, Aurelien Tchouameni, Alex Scott, Ederson and Ayyoub Bouaddi,’ the journalist writes.

‘United signed Tielemans for £35m and he has been the only addition to feature regularly, playing 988 minutes in all competitions (out of a possible 1,260).

‘Andrey Santos has played 556 minutes, while Carlos Baleba has 397 minutes after arriving with an ankle injury. Baleba’s hamstring injury sustained against Roma is set to keep him out for several weeks.

‘Santos, 22, was on the periphery of Chelsea’s team last season, but United paid £50m for him.’

The Times revealed on Thursday that Anderson, United’s top target, wanted to move to Old Trafford towards the start of the summer.

However, Wilcox never got close to meeting Nottingham Forest’s demands for the England star.

After having an £85m bid rejected, Wilcox indicated he would be open to doing business at £87-89m. However, he was ‘laughed out of town’ by Forest, who were never going to sell Anderson for less than £100m.

The player then went on to join United’s rivals Manchester City for £116m.

Man Utd failed Carrick with poor transfer business

United were in desperate need of a midfield destroyer, and Anderson or Mateus Fernandes would have solved that issue, adding dynamism and tenacity to their side.

In contrast, United ended up with Santos and Tielemans, who have both struggled to keep up with opposition midfielders this season.

Baleba could end up being a great signing for United, as he has the tenacity they require, though the Cameroonian will be out for several weeks due to his hamstring issue.

Plenty of criticism has already been levelled at Wilcox by United fans given his failures in the transfer market and the botched appointments of Ruben Amorim and Carrick.

If Mauricio Pochettino ends up failing at Old Trafford, then INEOS owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe will surely have to consider sacking Wilcox.

Meanwhile, Carrick has penned an emotional farewell to United after being replaced by Pochettino.