Jason Wilcox has now overseen eight first-team arrivals since taking over as Manchester United\u2019s director of football in June 2025, and the verdict on that group is already being tested by events on the pitch.<\/p>\n
A poor start to the 2026-27 season brought fresh scrutiny after defeat to Atl\u00e9tico Madrid in the Champions League, when Lisandro Mart\u00ednez delivered a pointed post-match criticism of United\u2019s recruitment. \u201cI expect more from our technical director [Wilcox],\u201d Mart\u00ednez fumed. \u201cI have to be honest, as players we have to do more but it is also important when you make a strong squad to be ready for this kind of night.\u201d<\/p>\n
From there, the signings can be grouped from least convincing to most encouraging.<\/p>\n
Karl Darlow sits near the bottom of the list. Signed on a free transfer as cover after United tired of Andr\u00e9 Onana and Altay Bay\u0131nd\u0131r\u2019s mistakes, the 36-year-old has made only one competitive appearance. That outing came in a 3-2 home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion, and his role now looks restricted to domestic cups until his contract ends in 2028.<\/p>\n
Andrey Santos remains difficult to judge. Bought for $64.3 million in July, he has started only three competitive matches and looks set for a marginal role in midfield. He brings versatility, but the sample size is still too small to draw firm conclusions.<\/p>\n
Youri Tielemans arrived for $47 million and offered experience and technical quality, but his early months have been uneven. His lack of mobility and physicality has not always suited Kobbie Mainoo, and United may need to rethink that partnership.<\/p>\n
Benjamin \u0160e\u0161ko has given far more reason for optimism. Signed for $89 million, he scored 11 Premier League goals in 30 appearances, starting 17, despite injury interruptions. His pace, strength and decisive finishing have already made an impression.<\/p>\n
Carlos Baleba may yet climb even higher. United waited for his valuation to fall before paying $96 million in the 2026 summer window, and although injury delayed his debut, his stamina, reading of the game and ball-winning ability fit the midfield profile the club needs.<\/p>\n
Matheus Cunha rounds out the assessment strongly. After a season of positional changes and adaptation following his $85 million move from Wolverhampton Wanderers, he finished with 10 Premier League goals and two assists, including three goals in his final four matches. There are still questions over his best role, but the early return has been positive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wilcox\u2019s United signings are already under scrutiny, with some looking shaky and others showing real promise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[1836,1047,182],"class_list":["post-21772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-champions-league","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}