United’s overall summer outlay is a surprise given minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said in March the club could have “gone bust by Christmas” without the huge cuts implemented to slash costs.
Club sources cite a number of reasons – including Marcus Rashford’s £325,000-a-week salary being fully covered during his loan move to Barcelona, various sell-on clauses that have been activated this summer and the payment schedules agreed with Wolves and Brentford around Cunha and Mbeumo’s arrivals – as the reason why they can still spend.
United sources had said on Friday their attempts to sign Sesko were continuing.
However, subsequently, reports have emerged in the forward’s native Slovenia stating the forward had chosen to join Newcastle. Neither club has commented officially on the latest reports.
Yet, it is accepted even if Sesko did arrive in a move that would take the club’s overall spend to about £200m, there will still be issues for Amorim to address, chief among them the goalkeeper.
It now seems certain Andre Onana will remain as Amorim’s first choice.
The Cameroon international has been working hard on his fitness in the United States after hurting his hamstring on the second day of pre-season training.
He is unlikely to be involved against Everton but there is hope Onana could play some part in the final friendly against a Fiorentina side including former United keeper David de Gea at Old Trafford on 9 August.
“We are always looking to improve the team and we have some characteristics we would like to have. But it depends on the market and depends on sales,” said Amorim.
“You can see the goalkeepers. Tom [Heaton] is leaner, Altay [Bayindir] did really well and [Andre] Onana is going to be better like the other guys that are getting better this year.”
