A rejected bid and deadline day deal - how Man United created the transfer tax they're trying to end

The Labour Party is tying itself up in knots over possible tax rises and their fellow reds are burdened by a different tax.

The word from Manchester United this summer is that their budget is "tens of millions, rather than hundreds of millions". Yet Everton deem Jarrad Branthwaite to be worth the best part of £100million.

Everton's £70m-£80m valuation and United's opening bid of £35m rising to £43m are negotiation tactics. The probability is the clubs will meet somewhere in the middle with a deal that both sides can put a positive spin on.

United do not have fine form for that. With his position insecure, John Murtough was trumpeted for "holding the line" during negotiations with Chelsea over Mason Mount. Only one side was the winner in that £60m deal and it was the sellers.

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Those present on the pre-season tour were informed United would not spend more than £60m on Rasmus Hojlund. Not only did United pay Atalanta an up-front fee of £64m, they negotiated £8m in add-ons. Given Hojlund's age and length of contract, that deal could cost United £12m more than intended.

United have endeavoured to change their perception in the marketplace. A source who knows Matt Hargreaves, the director of transfer negotiations, said he wants to change the culture. Two years ago, United walked away from a deal for Adrien Rabiot over his salary demands and baulked at Red Bull Salzburg's asking price for Benjamin Sesko.

Those are exceptions to the norm. In the same summer, United committed to spending £70m on the 30-year-old Casemiro. Antony, a raw winger with two years' experience of playing in Europe with Ajax, commanded a €100m fee. Both deals were bankrolled and concluded in response to the 4-0 shellacking at Brentford.

Including add-ons, United's spending last summer for permanent purchases was £177.2m. They played a bit of poker with Chelsea over Mount, threatening to move for their prime midfield target Moises Caicedo when they were bluffing. Paris Saint-Germain's interest in Hojlund forced their hand and, true to form, United yielded by upping the offer.

The Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules and United's poor return in the seller's market have forced them to consider some targets with release clauses and/or a year remaining on their contracts. Sir Jim Ratcliffe accused the club of spending "dumb money" five years ago and the incoming chief executive Omar Berrada has warned they face a "slippery slope" if they overspend on signings, salaries and agents' fees.

These are problems of United's own making. Figures at the club, past and present, have bemoaned the 'United tax' when the club is solely responsible for that.

United have never recovered from the manner of Marouane Fellaini's signing in the summer of 2013. Fellaini had a £23.5m release clause that expired on July 31. United offered Everton £28m for Fellaini and Leighton Baines on August 19. United bought Fellaini for £27.5m on September 2.

In the next transfer window, United paraded Juan Mata for a club-record £37.1m, the first time they had broken the £30m barrier for an incoming since Dimitar Berbatov in September 2008. Then, in the summer of 2014, Angel Di Maria arrived for a British record £59.7m.

Twelve months on, United agreed an overall £58m fee for the 19-year-old Anthony Martial. Di Maria was a reigning Champions League winner and instrumental in Argentina's run to the 2014 World Cup final. Martial was a callow forward largely unknown outside of France. There should have been a disparity in valuations. There wasn't. Di Maria, also transferred in the same summer as Martial, cost PSG £44.3m.

Then to 2016 and the world record £89m deal for Paul Pogba. United eclipsed that with their £90m package to prise Romelu Lukaku from Everton in 2017. After the damaging decrease in 2018, Harry Maguire became football's most expensive defender in 2019 at £80m. Everton have cited his fee to justify their quote for Branthwaite.

The substantial investment in Maguire and right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£130m combined) was in response to United's worst defensive season in 40 years. Their most extravagant summers (2014, 2016, 2019 and 2022) were after the failure to qualify for the Champions League and under new managers.

United plummeted to eighth under Erik ten Hag, spared by Ineos after the FA Cup triumph. The notion United, only in the Europa League through their Wembley win, would turn to a superstar signing of a saviour was dismissed by Ratcliffe last week.

As harmful as the Glazer family have been to United, their thriftiness reinforced the club's focus in the transfer market as Sir Alex Ferguson's hit rate started to dwindle. There had been more misses (Tim Howard, Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba, David Bellion and Alan Smith) than hits (Wayne Rooney and Gabriel Heinze) in the 2003 and 2004 summer windows.

United recruited Ji-sung Park, Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra for a knockdown £18m across the 2005 summer and 2006 winter transfer windows. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy ensured Michael Carrick cost a tad more at £18.6m in the summer of 2006.

Van der Sar, Vidic, Evra and Carrick started in United's three Champions League finals between 2008-11. Park lined up in the two schoolings by Barcelona. The value for money the quintet represented was substantial as Ferguson assembled a third great side.

With Ferguson bruised from United's Champions League semi-final defeat to AC Milan in 2007, he upped the ante. Nani, Anderson, Owen Hargreaves and Carlos Tevez still represent United's best summer window.

Few would quibble about Nani's £17m fee or the separate £17m invested in one-season wonder Hargreaves. Anderson, at £25m, was an expensive flop but part of a successful era, so is remembered wistfully by many supporters. Tevez's terms were on a two-year loan.

Ferguson's variable eight years in the market under the Glazers are separated evenly into four-year periods divided by the world record £80m sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in 2009.

After that deal, United were pathetically parsimonious. Ferguson stopped signing central midfielders and echoed the Glazers, complaining about "no value in the market" and "kamikaze spending".

United rummaged in bargain baskets for the crocked freebie Michael Owen, Gabriel Obertan and Mame Biram Diouf. Gems were unearthed (Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling) but United dug a hole for themselves with the infamous Bebe deal in 2010. Phil Jones, Alexander Buttner, Nick Powell and Angelo Henriquez were not money well spent.

Neither was Shinji Kagawa once Ferguson had headed upstairs. The silky Japanese and Robin van Persie were the headline arrivals in Ferguson's last summer in 2012 but both had entered the final year of their contracts. Arsenal could not demand a hefty fee that reflected Van Persie's status as a world-class striker and Premier League top scorer. He fetched £24m.

After Berbatov's midnight run to United in 2008, Van Persie was the only incoming who cost United more than £20m during Ferguson's last five years in the dugout. Fellaini should have been £500,000 cheaper but Ed Woodward was the club bursar.

Woodward seldom discouraged spending splurges. He regarded Real Madrid as the model club and aspired to recruit an elite player in each position.

Clubs saw United coming a mile off. So did players, who would use their interest, concrete or not, as a bargaining chip to obtain an improved contract or a transfer elsewhere.

And so the United tax was incepted.