Another Summer Of Uncertainty At The Theatre Of Dreams

It's not been the easiest of 18 months for Manchester United supporters. Local rivals Man City holding off United's River Mersey rivals Liverpool to pip them to the League title then the scousers themselves going on to win the Champions League in Madrid. Oh and if that wasn't bad enough, finishing 6th and outside of those all important Champions League places.

Ask any Man Utd fan and they'll say it's an 18 months to forget.

The continued bankrolling of the Glazer families lavish lifestyles left many fans struggling to apprehend the direction in which one of the biggest football clubs on planet was heading with just £44m of the debt put on the club after the Glazer takeover paid off. The summer transfer window was looking bleak however it turned out to be a three month period filled with mixed emotions.

The early signings of Daniel James followed by Palace right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka seemed like a big step in the right direction but what came after those signings was typical of the so called "New Man Utd."

A July of chasing players such as Bruno Fernandes and Sergej Milinkovic Savic along with continued negotiations over the sale of Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan or a potential swap for Paulo Dybala with Juventus, it was as many United fans predicted, a July to forget.

It took until the start of August for the best news for United's faithful. The signing of England international Harry Maguire and Lukaku leaving for Inter. A solid new centre back signed and some deadwood offloaded, this is what United have needed more of but unfortunately, it's hardly going to paper over the cracks this season.

For the first time since the Neville - Ferdinand - Vidic - Evra combination, United's defence is finally their most stable department on the pitch. What's ahead of that though is a completely different story.

Much was made of where Paul Pogba would be come the end of August and by the looks of it, it will still be at Old Trafford whether he likes it or not. Usually to keep a player of Pogba's quality, you'd be delighted. But in this case as a red, it just doesn't quite feel right.

He's already expressed his desire to leave the club and at the moment, it does in a way feel like the club is holding him hostage. Is Paul Pogba too good to be playing in the Europa League? Most definitely. Is he too good for the current Manchester United team? Most definitely. However he knew full well when he signed for the club it wasn't going to be an overnight fix. Pogba was brought in to build a team around, one of the best players on the planet, a leader, a man who when he wants to, can win a game on his own. But with that quality comes immense power over a young squad and Pogba has showed on numerous occasions that when he can't be arsed, he may as well be in the changing rooms or as he prefers, out socialising in the bars of Cheshire.

He assisted twice in United's convincing 4-0 victory over Chelsea at the weekend but there's still moments of unneeded arrogance from Pogba which, like his daft penalty runs up last season, will cost the team massively at some point. Unneeded Cruyff turns in the middle of the pitch at 0-0 leaving your defence wide open, it's just a recipe for disaster.

United have had a world of success in the past 30 years. We've seen the club win every trophy available for them to win over the past 25 years, something which many fans who follow other clubs will never be able to say but with the club still a visible mess from the owners down to the players, fans may need to get used to battling for 4th with a soap drama every transfer window.

Whilst the club is still poison at the top, it will never be rosy at the bottom.