26 September 2023 , 05:00
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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has only been at the helm for just over a year, but the Dutchman has already made sweeping changes to the landscape at Old Trafford.
The 53-year-old oversaw a £220million outlay last summer - the highest amount the club have ever spent in a single transfer window - and has followed that up with another spending spree this year, with more than £160m spent on deals for Mason Mount, Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund.
It was last year's influx of arrivals, though, that forced Ten Hag to make an utterly brutal decision. With the United chief short on space in the first-team dressing room, he reportedly axed a handful of first-team stars in order to make room for his new recruits.
According to a report from The Sun last September, Phil Jones, Brandon Williams, Axel Tuanzebe, Teden Mengi and Shola Shoretire were all shunted into the club's under-23 changing area. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of these players have now left the club.
Jones and Tuanzebe both left Manchester United as free agents in the summer, while Williams completed a season-long loan move to Championship high-fliers Ipswich. Mengi, meanwhile, joined Premier League new boys Luton on a permanent deal last month.
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That means Shoretire, an exciting 19-year-old academy graduate, is the only one of the quintet still on the books at Old Trafford. He is currently in the clubs U21 ranks, but he too came close to leaving United in the summer.
Join the debate! What do you make of Man Utd's summer transfer business? Let us know here.
Shola Shoretire is still at Manchester United but spent time on loan at Bolton Wanderers last season (Michael Steele/Getty Images)After a brief spell on loan in League One with Bolton Wanderers last term, United were open to facilitating another temporary move for Shoretire. It even seemed likely a move would materialise as there was adequate interest in his services from clubs in the Championship and abroad in the final days of the transfer window, per The Manchester Evening News.
United had invited Shoretire's suitors to map out their development plans for the upcoming season in transfer talks. Ultimately though, Shoretire stayed put after said interest failed to translate into another switch.
To date, Shoretire has made five senior appearances for Manchester United but is behind the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Facundo Pellistri in the Old Trafford pecking order. It remains to be seen if another loan move will materialise once the transfer window reopens in the New Year.