No new goalkeeper until the last knockings of the window was a clear oversight, though the capture of Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig for the not inconsequential figure of £74m certainly appeared to be a step in the right direction.
Sesko's purchase a vote of confidence in Amorim
Not only was his purchase a vote of confidence from the board in their manager, but a chance for the Portuguese to finally have a striker capable of banging in the goals left, right and centre.
United had struggled badly last season with both Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund up front, and given Sesko's goalscoring form at Leipzig - 39 goals in 87 games - there were reasons to believe that the Red Devils had landed one of the game's best young goalscoring talents.
Less so the signing of barrel-chested front man, Bryan Mbeumo, from Premier League rivals Brentford.
Though the Cameroonian had scored 70 goals and provided 51 assists for the Bees in 242 games, mainly played on the right wing, there wasn't the same sense of excitement surrounding his capture as there was for the 22-year-old Slovenian.
Lack of pace, lack of confidence
Fast forward just a few months, and it's clear who has become the most important attacker for Amorim.
Though no one is suggesting that the Bundesliga is an inferior league to the English top-flight, Sesko is struggling badly in the Premier League.
His lack of pace - an issue for both Zirkzee and Hojlund - and his decision-making in front of goal have been exposed time and again, perhaps never more so than against Tottenham Hotspur this past weekend.
A late chance, which would've put the game to bed in United's favour, encompassed Sesko's current challenges to a tee.
Played in behind the Spurs defence thanks to an exquisite Mason Mount pass with three minutes left of normal time and with only the keeper to beat, the Slovenian took far too long to assess the situation and allowed Micky van de Ven to get back and play the ball out of harm's way.
The sum total of Sesko's contribution in North London in the 30+ minutes he had on the pitch was just three touches in the Tottenham penalty area. Not even a single shot at goal, let alone one on target.
Mbeumo has shone at United
Often second-best to the ball, it's already obvious that Sesko is a reactive rather than proactive centre-forward, which isn't what United need at this juncture.
Whilst his movement is good, his chance creation and shot conversion to date are nowhere near good enough at this level.
For the latter metric, Sesko has posted a figure of just 8.3%, which pales in comparison with Mbeumo's 20.7%.
12 games into the current season and Mbeumo has already scored six goals - four more than the more celebrated Sesko - including another against Tottenham.
A goal that, until the last 10 minutes, looked as though it might have inflicted another home defeat on his former Brentford manager, Thomas Frank.
What's also interesting is that Mbeumo's 29 total shots in 2025/26 are only five more than Sesko's, and that's part of United's issue with the latter in a nutshell.
Was United's recruitment of Sesko yet another mistake?
Significantly, the former has also been much better in terms of his associative play with his United teammates. A pass completion of 80.5% is more than acceptable, whereas the latter's 64.6% is actually the worst of any outfield player at Old Trafford.
Just 13 ball recoveries in his 12 games doesn't speak of a centre-forward willing to put in a shift either, and, once again, Mbeumo is streets ahead of his contemporary, with 34 separate occasions when he's won back the ball for United.
The one area where Sesko has bettered Mbeumo is regarding one-on-one successes; the Slovenian's 36.3% success slightly improved on the 26-year-old's 31.6%.
Aerially, it's no contest, with the winger managing just three successful duels compared to Sesko's 28.
Perhaps the youngster will be cut some slack as he continues to adapt to a new league, new surroundings and the pressure of being a Man Utd centre-forward, but strikers pay their rent in goals, and Sesko certainly hasn't cashed in as yet.
Though it would be a brave call from Amorim, perhaps taking the Slovenian out of the firing line altogether for a few games would be of benefit.
It would, of course, be a tacit admittance that the club might well have got it wrong again in terms of recruitment; however, Sesko's current output and clear lack of confidence are not doing him or the club any favours whatsoever.
