Man Utd restricted to ‘cheap buys and loans’ in huge January transfer window blow amid uncertainty over looming takeover

ERIK TEN HAG will be restricted to “cheap buys” and loans in the upcoming January transfer window, according to reports.

The Daily Mail claim the Dutch manager will face a tightening of the purse strings amid the ongoing uncertainty over United’s takeover.

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Ten Hag may have to operate under a restricted budget in January[/caption]

Sir Jim Ratcliffe‘s investment in 25% of the club has yet to be ratified and the club are also limited in their spending by Financial Fair Play regulations.

To help their FFP standing, the club will look to sell Jadon Sancho but it is yet to be seen how much they will get for the winger – who they paid £73million for.

The club are also keen to bring in a striker to play alongside Rasmus Hojlund and want Brentford’s Ivan Toney.

The Bees’ £100million price-tag is likely to put The Red Devils’ incumbent hierarchy off, however.

The club may instead turn to a cheaper option, as they did last season when they signed Wout Weghorst on loan.

Reinforcements to United’s leaky defence is also a priority.

Ten Hag has been forced to line-up with a centre-back pairing of Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans several times this season and would ideally bring in another player to push Evans down to fifth in the pecking order.

Among the options being looked at at centre-half are Jean-Clair Todibo of Nice, Edmond Tapsoba of Bayer Leverkusen, Giorgio Scalvini of Atalanta and Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite.

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Discussions over defensive reinforcements have cooled. however, while Director of Football John Murtough remains in post.

It’s understood that once Ratcliffe’s minority stake is confirmed, he will bring in his own man to oversee football operations.

United may be forced to turn to the loan market again for a defender, as they did in the summer with the signings of Sergio Reguilon and Sofyan Amrabat.

Contract extensions are another thing that will impact United’s ability to spend with several players seeing their contracts run down.

The club are considering extensions for Casemiro, Raphael Varane and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

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