Andrey Santos and Baleba: £120m sat on Man Utd's bench

Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba were both on the bench at Craven Cottage on 20 September, and neither of them got off it. That was the game where Man Utd spent more than half their time out of possession walking and got outrun by 6.5km. (The running numbers from that game are as bad as it looked.) Kobbie Mainoo came off on 80 minutes. Carrick sent on Mason Mount.

So, around £120m of new midfielders watched the worst midfield performance of the season from the dugout, and the manager's answer to it was a player he already had.

What we paid

Here's the bill, with what's confirmed and what's only reported.

Read more: Lisandro Martinez is right about Jason Wilcox

• Youri Tielemans: a £35m release clause activated with Aston Villa. The clause figure was widely reported; the club doesn't publish fees.
• Andrey Santos: reported at £50m from Chelsea, with a contract to 2031. The first signing of the summer.
• Carlos Baleba: reported at an initial £65m plus up to £5m in add-ons from Brighton, on a five-year deal.

Sky Sports put it at about £85m on Tielemans and Santos and around £70m on Baleba. Call it £155m on three midfielders in one window. Of the three, one plays.

Santos: whose idea was this?

Santos is 22 and arrived in July for a reported £50m. By the break he'd made five appearances in all competitions, one league start in three, and was an unused sub against City and Fulham. Ben Foster, on his podcast, called him "fourth or fifth choice in that position now; he's miles off it." Harsh. Also, going by the team sheets, accurate.

When he signed, Santos said Carrick "is the perfect coach to help me take the next step in my career". It was billed as the first signing of the Carrick era. So either Carrick wanted him and doesn't trust him after a month, or he never really wanted him and Jason Wilcox's department bought him anyway. I don't know which. Neither is acceptable for £50m. Not good enough, whichever it was.

Baleba: signed injured, and everyone knew

Baleba was announced on 25 August. At that point he already had ankle ligament damage from pre-season and was expected to miss at least until mid-September, according to AFP. Four days later Carrick said he could be out for up to three weeks. That was meant to be the worst case.

It's now 7 October. He hasn't played a minute. He made the bench at Fulham and stayed on it. The Sun, via Sports Mole, now says he's fully recovered and set to make his debut against Spurs on Saturday. That's reported, not confirmed, and we've heard "nearly there" before.

Wilcox's line on the day he signed was: "Carlos is an elite midfielder with immense potential to develop further." Maybe he is. But you don't pay £65m up front for an injured player in the last week of August and then start a season where your midfield can't run, unless you've decided the long term matters more than the next six games. Fine, if that's the plan. Then say it, and stop pretending the first six games were a fair test of anything.

The case for patience

There is one. Baleba's injury was an ankle, not a career-threatening one, and a player who missed all of pre-season can't be thrown into a Premier League midfield cold. Santos is 22, he's moved country, and Mainoo has been in strong form, so it's not mad that he's ahead of him. Tielemans has played. Six weeks isn't a verdict on a five-year contract.

All true. None of it explains Fulham. At Fulham we were walking, we needed legs, and two fit-enough-for-the-bench signings worth £120m between them stayed put while Mount went on. Either Carrick doesn't rate them or doesn't think they're fit. If it's the first, the recruitment's wrong. If it's the second, why are they on the bench?

Who answers for it

The midfield that actually started at Fulham was Mainoo and Tielemans, with Bruno alongside. Mainoo came through the academy and cost nothing. He's the one Carrick turns to, and he's the one who picked up an injury at Fulham and pulled out of the England squad.

You couldn't make it up. The club spent £155m on midfielders and the one it leans on hardest is the one it didn't buy.

Wilcox signs off on recruitment. INEOS signs off on the money. Carrick picks the team. Every one of them has a share of this, and so far not one of them has been asked about it in public. Spurs on Saturday is the first chance to see whether £120m of bench becomes a midfield. If Baleba and Santos are still sat there at 5.30pm, somebody should be made to explain why.