Manchester United have already made good progress in the transfer window under the auspices of the club's new football operators INEOS.
They beat Real Madrid to the signing of Lille defender Leny Yoro, one of the brightest talents in Ligue 1, having previously secured Netherlands international Joshua Zirkzee from under the noses of AC Milan.
United have been linked with several further possible additions, although there will need to be outgoings if they are to comply with financial regulations laid down by the Premier League and UEFA and free up sufficient squad space.
But manager Erik ten Hag evidently does not wish to see too many players depart. After overseeing a season in which his squad was ravaged by more than 60 injuries, the Dutchman would love to start the 2024/25 season with a more robust pool of players at his disposal.
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Erik ten Hag: It's survival of the fittest
"We already had very good two buys," Ten Hag said ahead of United's preseason match with Arsenal in Los Angeles. "So, when everyone is fit, we have a team who can beat everyone, but the squad depth we have to catch up because we had injuries.
"We are vulnerable and we have to avoid this by getting less injuries and second, our squad has to be that good. The quality we have in depth, we have to catch up, but even more because this season will be the survival of the fittest."
United suffered a succession of injuries in 2023/24, with their defence most disrupted by the persistent problem of missing players. They spent the majority of the campaign without a fit senior left-back aside from Sergio Reguilon, the emergency loan signing who left again in January.
Ten Hag fears a similar situation could occur.
"It can happen again," he said. "One of the important things is for you to cover medical [excellence] and performance . The players have to work in the right way because the standards are so high and you have to fulfil them, the highest standards, not only on game day but every day.
"[There are] so many reasons [for the high number]. The amount of games. The fixture list. The load on the players, the pressure on the players is so high and we are not the only team with so many injuries, we were not even the worst [last term]. Also, bad luck, we had them at the end of the season in the back four and it cost us a lot of points. The load and pressure on players is immense, with the new model in Europe [competitions] next season."
