Following a period of relative parsimony in Alex Ferguson's final years as Manchester United manager, the English giant has changed course dramatically in the 15 months since he retired.

Ferguson was fond of the refrain that there was "no value" in the transfer market whenever he was asked to explain United's apparent reluctance to spend but the club's recent travails have prompted a radical rethink.

After the sacking of David Moyes and a seventh-place finish in the Premier League last season, United has allowed new manager Louis van Gaal to spend more than 150 million pounds ($249 million) on new players.

Culminating in the arrivals of Argentina winger Angel di Maria for a British-record fee of 59.7 million pounds and Colombia striker Radamel Falcao on a season-long loan from Monaco costing about 25 million pounds, it was an unprecedented splurge, even for a club worth as much as United.

Before those headline-grabbing arrivals, United had already been busy remodeling its squad with moves for Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera, England leftback Luke Shaw and di Maria's Argentina teammate Marcos Rojo.

United has also signed Daley Blind, a member of the Netherlands squad that finished third at the World Cup under van Gaal in a 14 million pounds deal from Ajax.

With captain Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Alexander Buttner, Danny Welbeck and Shinji Kagawa leaving, and Ryan Giggs hanging up his boots to become van Gaal's assistant, it has been a period of great upheaval at Old Trafford.

United's absence from European competition for the first time since 1989 has not prevented it from acquiring elite players but the new signings do not appear to have been the fruit of meticulous forward planning.

Whereas many observers have pinpointed central defense and central midfield as United's weak points, it finished the transfer window having signed one central midfielder, a winger, a striker and three players who played at leftback at the World Cup.

As former England striker Gary Lineker joked on Twitter: "If you can't defend, just out score 'em!"

Two of those leftbacks can play in other positions - Rojo at centerback, Blind as a holding midfielder - but like di Maria and Falcao, their hastily finalized transfers, ratified late in the window, suggested an element of panic.

The challenge now facing van Gaal is how to accommodate all of his stellar signings in his first XI.

"United now have so many attacking players that I am unsure how they are going to fit them all in," former United striker Michael Owen told the Sportlobster social networking website.

"I think this is why they originally started with the 3-5-2 formation, so they could accommodate loads of attackers but now I think van Gaal may sacrifice Mata."

(China Daily 09/03/2014 page23)