Does no one want to join Man United?
When it rains, it pours.
After a promising pre-season that suggested that the gloom and doom from the David Moyes era was over, Manchester United were brought crashing down to earth when they lost 2-1 to Swansea City on the opening day of the English Premier League season.
More tellingly, the defeat exposed a multitude of deficiencies in Louis van Gaal's squad, suggesting that several new recruits will be needed to stop the Red Devils' rot.
Despite securing the services of Sporting Lisbon's Argentine defender Marcos Rojo this week, the Old Trafford outfit have been dealt blow after blow in the transfer market as they look for other additions to earlier signings Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera.
Rumours of world class names like Arturo Vidal, Mats Hummels and Angel di Maria have gotten United fans in a tizzy over the summer, yet nothing has materialised despite relentless chatter over the club's supposed interest in these names.
No A-listers
Worse still, news has emerged about several A-list targets who have turned down the opportunity to play at the Theatre of Dreams.
In a recent interview, Moyes revealed that moves for Gareth Bale, Cesc Fabregas and Cristiano Ronaldo never came to fruition in the summer of 2013.
This transfer window, Borussia Dortmund's highly sought-after midfield star Marco Reus turned down a lucrative move to United according to Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo while Reus' compatriot Thomas Mueller of Bayern Munich said so himself that he had done just that.
Speaking to German newspaper Sports Bild about United's reported interest, the World Cup star said: "Of course - I was aware I could theoretically earn more with a transfer.
"The sums that were standing by from foreign clubs were already astronomical. I can only say that a change was never really an issue anyway."
Struggling
While United marquee signings have been few and far between in the Premier League era, it should be very worrying that England's most successful club are struggling to attract the biggest names football has to offer.
With a big name coach in Louis van Gaal, generous wages, one of the world's finest stadiums to call home and a rich history to match, what exactly is holding United back in the transfer market?
It is an answer chief executive Ed Woodward has to find in order to land the right player to lift the team with less than two weeks to go before the transfer window closes.
Otherwise, the Red Devils could be staring at another bleak season of discontent.
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