The problem at united is that what everyone knows they need to do conflicts with what they absolutely can't do.
From a football point of view, they need to clear out the dross and give Ten Bob a few seasons - 3 as a minimum - to build a side. During that time, they will almost certainly need to sacrifice European football, certainly CL. Let's call that Plan A.
But sacrificing CL for a few seasons could be seismic for them. It will eat into their revenue significantly and reduce their appeal to top quality players. They've been lucky so far as they haven't spent two consecutive seasons without CL football but if they don't secure CL for next season, sponsorships get reduced and banking covenants that might require them to repay debt on demand could potentially kick in. So their available cash will be reduced significantly.
So their "strategy" (if you can call it that) has to be a series of short term fixes, hence the buying of older, big name players who they feel can give them a short term boost. Let's call that Plan B. If that doesn't work then they may as well go to Plan A but the likelihood is that they'll get rid of Ten Bob and try Plan B with someone else.
www.theguardian.com