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6th October 2020
04:38pm BST

At the turn of the year it seemed Romero's days as a United player were numbered. With De Gea only months into a new long-term contract, Dean Henderson's impressive loan form at Sheffield United meant a return to his parent club was becoming increasingly likely. Three men vying for the same position was simply one too many and Romero, surely, would be the one to make way.
Sure enough, Henderson has returned and, after signing a new long-term contract of his own, is already filling Romero's gloves in United's early-season Carabao Cup fixtures. De Gea continues as first choice in the Premier League.
But despite plenty of interest, United have been unable to find a suitor for Romero. Inexplicably, the club that was reluctant to meet the 'unreasonable' asking price for a potentially world class addition to their first team now finds itself paying close to £2.5m a month in wages to three goalkeepers. This, as much as any of their many failings at trying to bring players to Old Trafford, neatly sums up how staggeringly poorly run the club is. It is demonstrative of the same lack of foresight which sees them hand out new contracts to perennially injured defenders, or their failure to understand that when a selling club stipulates a fee for a player must be paid by a certain date, they mean it.Romero's hopes of leaving United are not completely dead, of course. Though a move elsewhere in the Premier League or abroad is no longer possible until January, he is permitted to join clubs in the Championship or below for a few more days. For a goalkeeper who might still harbour ambitions of playing for his country in another World Cup, such a step down poses obvious problems. His wages, too, are likely to be beyond the budgets of most clubs in England's second tier. And so for now, he is left in a state of limbo. While Sancho might generate more headlines, it is the Argentine back-up goalkeeper who is the true symbol of a club in stagnation, where a small band of seemingly immune finance men continue to play at a game none of them appear to fully understand.
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