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Premier League proven. If Manchester United’s profligacy in the transfer market in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson malaise could be characterised by one single failing, it would be the consistency with which the 20-time English champions have signed players wholly unsuited to English football.

From the dismal displays of Dutch disaster Donny van de Beek, a midfielder simply incapable of meeting the physicality of the Premier League, to Uruguay international Manuel Ugarte, another player overwhelmed by the intensity of Europe’s most demanding division.

Van de Beek set the club back £40 million, while Ugarte – comfortably the worst recruit of the INEOS era – cost in excess of £50m once add-on fees are included in the deal agreed with Paris Saint-Germain two years ago. It’s little wonder, therefore, why United’s hierarchy are prioritising targets with experience in England to overhaul their stalling engine room this summer, with Casemiro set to depart at the end of the season and Ugarte increasingly likely to join the Brazilian through the exit door at Old Trafford.

Despite turning 34 last month, Casemiro has enjoyed a resurgence under Michael Carrick, who took the reins in the wake of Ruben Amorim’s bombshell dismissal...