It was on Tuesday night, shortly before Arsenal kicked off at Inter Milan, that Wayne Rooney was presented with a hypothetical by Theo Walcott in the course of their punditry duties.
Asked who would win a fixture between the brilliant Arsenal side of today and the dominant Manchester United of 2008, Rooney was not above taking aim at an open goal: ‘We’d batter them.’
On balance, you’d make him right, even if it did highlight for the umpteenth time that United’s comfort zone can only be accessed via the past. In history. In the kind of achievements that are a vast overhaul away from recurring and, lately, have been worth their weight in acid for former stars. United’s present makes for a deliciously easy target.
Beyond a pair of underwhelming strikers purchased at vast cost in the summer, there is little or no common ground between the respective versions of United and Arsenal in 2026.
When they face off at Emirates Stadium on Sunday, those disparities could be conclusively emphasised. But in such a fixture exists a blueprint for how United must walk their way out of the wasteland. In short, copy Arsenal.
Arsenal – led by Declan Rice and Mikel Arteta – can be a blueprint out of the wasteland
Man United is an operation that has lost itself in a self-loathing brand of nostalgia
All of which is simple to say of a club that tops tables at home and in Europe. But if it is accepted wisdom that United are lost in the shadow of Sir Alex Ferguson, then it should also be acknowledged that no other elite club in the modern English era can empathise more than Arsenal, particularly on the challenge of moving on from an all-encompassing, autocratic figure.
But where one operation has pivoted, panicked, rotated, spent good money after bad and lost itself in a self-loathing brand of nostalgia, Arsenal have progressed since Arsene Wenger.
Too much has been made of the faith they showed in Mikel Arteta in those early days — they were 10th upon his appointment six years ago and won the FA Cup in his first season, so it was hardly the egregious gamble of popular depiction to keep him when they finished eighth in his second campaign.
Casemiro is perhaps the most costly example of a broken system at United
His arrival at this current opportunity might be painted as a vindication and yet it is in recruitment where the differences between clubs are most profoundly felt. If Arsenal win this title it will have been achieved through the accumulation of a squad built to weather, endure and conquer, with two elite options for each position, give or take the evidence on Viktor Gyokeres.
Where that damns United, beyond the obvious, is how they have used almost an identical level of spending since a pivotal moment for each of them.
Drawing a line back to the 2020-21 season, when United last got within the same postcode of a title and Arteta was drawing his heaviest scrutiny, an estimated £1.04billion has gone on new recruits at Old Trafford. For Arsenal, the figure is £930m.
Those are the details that expose the dysfunction of United, as do the specifics. Where Arsenal copped flak for the huge outlay on Declan Rice, a £105m investment that is ageing as spectacularly as any in European football, United have been dreadfully neglectful in that same key area of the pitch.
Casemiro’s arrival for £70m aged 30 on £375,000 a week into a similar role is perhaps the most costly example of a broken system, and that is a player who can at least leave the club next summer with the pride of knowing he reshaped his narrative. He was a flop and then he wasn’t. But he was never a sustainable solution for a club that has too often pivoted to the big names, overspent on the prospects, or too heavily backed the whims of an individual in transient managerial role.
United persisted for too long with Ruben Amorim – and now have other problems to solve
They persisted too long with Ruben Amorim, but not before accommodating his specialised design for two narrow No 10s in a 3-4-3. Now that they have Michael Carrick in temporary control, his 4-2-3-1 might only have room for one of Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo. They are good players, sure, but one or the other will perhaps find himself vulnerable at a club paying the price for flip- flopping on the plan.
Arteta’s longevity has allowed the opposite. As has the clear thinking of those above him, compared to the assortment of director-level boot lickers at Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s United. Arsenal’s sturdiness at the top has permitted all other facets to root themselves in firm ground, transfers included.
Maybe Carrick will make a mockery of all that this afternoon. Maybe he will be more than an interim and proves himself as the manager they have been searching for. During his last caretaker spell, in 2021, he signed off with a win against Arteta’s Arsenal, remember.
But rather a lot has happened at both clubs since then. Only one of them got it right.
