[Stairs]

It is hugely frustrating but with the money involved act I do not believe that incompetence or unwillingness to recruit is to blame here.

It's natural for fans to want to see their club buy new players but at the end of the day if the valuation on a player is set by the club at N and the selling club is asking for 2 or 3 times N then unless you are totally over a barrel there is no sense in buying that player.

It seems that we tried to buy and were either being over charged or were outbid (action style) by another more desperate club.

The loan of a defender is just good business sense in that it provides cover for a weakness and is only a commitment for a few more months.

I agree a striker was very important but again why over pay.

My comfort is in that, as said my Mourinho, clubs are researching players well in advance of a particular transfer window and Man Utd already know their targets for the summer - I am going to guess that we do as well and filling a place with a lesser player, even if a short term remedy, does not make sense.

After all we are not in danger of relegation and realistically will be a few points short of a European place even with an optomistic view on things.