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A few months ago, Manchester United felt this summer would be quieter than last. They purchased five players in their first transfer window under Erik ten Hag. The aim was for a mere three major buys this year. They ended up adding four players on deadline day. They made more signings than in 2022. Typical United, always needing more players? Perhaps. But it is an indication plans can change. Sergio Reguilon, the fifth player through the door, could be seen as Tottenham’s fifth-choice left-back or a former Atletico and Real Madrid defender who was an astute recruit, given the lack of time and limited funds when Luke Shaw joined Tyrell Malacia on the injury list. Altay Bayindir’s aptitude for the role of Andre Onana’s deputy remains to be seen, but for now United know they have emerged in profit from a trade, selling Dean Henderson for an initial £15m – and when it seemed as though a loan with an option to buy was more likely – and replacing him for £4.3m. There was a pragmatism and a cost-conscious element to re-signing Jonny Evans, too, acquiring defensive cover on a free transfer. The signing of the 35-year-old, who first played for them in 2007 and was relegated with Leicester last season, nevertheless invited ridicule. It added to the sense United were patching up their squad on the cheap. With a different position, past and profile, Evans could be this window’s Wout Weghorst. All of which left the last deal of the day to feel like the defining one, for three months of trading to come down to the final few hours. Getting Sofyan Amrabat on loan from Fiorentina brought in the defensive midfielder their first three league games of the campaign underlined they needed. It seems like a fine piece of negotiating: one of the outstanding players in last year’s World Cup was acquired on loan, albeit for a €10m (£8.6m) fee. It also means United will need to pay €20m plus a further €5m in add-ons to buy him: if United had to advance some of this year’s budget to get Antony last summer, now an option to buy means some of 2024’s funds may have to be spent on the Moroccan. It also suggested that United got their priorities in the wrong order, with a pivotal position left until last and when the budget was drained. But United showed the creativity to get a deal done. But, to rewind a few months, two major requirements were evident: a centre-forward and a central midfielder. Harry Kane was the most obvious option but United were swift to rule out an offer, factoring in the difficulties of dealing with Tottenham chair Daniel Levy, perhaps realising they could not afford him while splitting their funds three ways, and maybe not expecting the England captain to go to Bayern Munich. Yet if Rasmus Hojlund was designed as the cheaper, younger alternative, United ended up paying £64m, rising to £72m, for potential, not proven performance, and the young Dane arrived injured. He could debut at Arsenal after the transfer window closed. The feeling at Old Trafford is that Ten Hag got his three major targets, and all relatively early. Yet the combined cost could reach £180m, including add-ons, thus rendering it impossible for United to make a fourth major buy – unless they made more significant sales. As loyal as they were to Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire, they perhaps ought to have done more to usher either or both towards the exit, and they have started the season looking like a team scarcely transformed by hefty investment. Each of the three main recruits has confounded expectations: Hojlund when many presumed Kane would come; Mason Mount instead of a more conventional midfielder; Andre Onana when David de Gea was long on the brink of staying. United’s change of heart came at a price – an initial £43m for a player who joined Inter on a free transfer last summer – but at least reflected Ten Hag’s ethos and ended the uneasy compromise with De Gea. Perhaps there was an ideological element to Mount’s arrival, too, looking to add more attacking incision to the midfield. Yet it was notable that last summer’s principal target, even before Casemiro, was Frenkie de Jong; the initial sense was that United might look for a player, such as Amrabat, who was more comfortable in a deeper role. Instead, the flagship signing has been deployed in a role he rarely occupied for Chelsea. And so Amrabat came to assume a greater importance. There was something anomalous in his presence in the second group of signings, the end-of-window assortment of loans, free transfers and cut-price deals to fill the gaps in the squad, rather than the expensive figures who were the cornerstones of the recruitment policy. United made a little go a long way in the final 24 hours. With a requirement to keep their net spend to around £120m, they needed to. “I think we have done good business,” said Ten Hag, before the signings of Reguilon, Evans and Amrabat were announced, though when he had in effect confirmed the Spaniard’s arrival. The squad now features 12 of his signings. But the eventual verdict on this summer’s splurge may come down to how three fare: not Onana, given the need to move on from De Gea. But Hojlund, who has to deliver the goals expected of a £72m striker; Mount, who has to justify Ten Hag’s decision to reinvent him; and Amrabat, the coup who could add solidity and has the potential to rescue United’s window. The last of them may be the best. Read More Erik ten Hag says Manchester United looking forward to ‘fight’ with Arsenal Mason Greenwood will begin to rebuild career with loan move to Getafe Mason Greenwood leaves Manchester United on loan Sofyan Amrabat ‘will put everything’ into playing for Manchester United Manchester United complete loan deal for World Cup star Deadline deals and Ricky Gervais plays hide-and-seek – Friday’s sporting social

As Donald Trump was being arraigned in Washington on yet another round of criminal charges, his running mate-turned-rival Mike Pence hurried to capitalize on the news. Pence's campaign unveiled new T-shirts and baseball caps featuring the phrase “Too Honest" in big red letters — a reference to an episode in the indictment in which the former president called Pence to berate him over his refusal to go along with Trump's scheme to overturn the 2020 election. “You’re too honest," Trump allegedly scoffed at his second-in-command on New Year's Day. Pence's decision to seize on the words marks a notable change in tone for a usually cautious candidate who has struggled to break through in a primary dominated by his former boss. Since the release of the indictment in which he plays a central role, Pence has criticized Trump more aggressively, casting himself as the person who stood up to Trump, averting catastrophe. “’The American people deserve to know that President Trump and his advisers didn’t just ask me to pause. They asked me to reject votes, return votes, essentially to overturn the election," Pence told Fox News Wednesday. Had he listened to Trump and his “his gaggle of crackpot lawyers,” Pence said, “literally chaos would have ensued.” Pence's response might seem like the expected reaction of a man who had to flee for his life on Jan. 6, 2021, when a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building, clashing with police and disrupting the joint session of Congress over which Pence was presiding. Trump had convinced legions of his followers that Pence had the unilateral power to undo the election, and Pence, his staff and family spent hours in hiding in a Senate loading dock as rioters chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!” outside. But Pence's new words stand out, in part because of just how staunchly he refused to publicly criticize Trump during his four years as vice president, dutifully and deferentially defending his boss. His newly tough talk also contrasts with Trump’s other rivals, who have largely shied away from attacking the former president over his mounting legal troubles and efforts to remain in power. “I think this is the ‘Enough is enough’ Mike Pence. This is the ‘Let’s do this thing,’ ‘Let’s get it done’ Mike Pence,” said his spokesman, Devin O’Malley. Pence notably had refused to appear before the congressional committee that investigated Jan. 6, criticizing its work as politicized. And he fought a subpoena to appear before the grand jury that heard the election case. To be sure, Pence had never shied away from defending his own actions on Jan. 6, and for a while he was openly critical of Trump. His advisers had long acknowledged that many of the former president's followers continue to believe Trump's lies about Pence's role, blaming him for failing to keep Trump in power, and they felt it was something he would have to address head-on. They believed that if he spent time explaining his position to voters, they would come to respect his decision and adherence to the Constitution. During his campaign launch speech, Pence directly assailed Trump, saying that, “anyone that puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States" and that "anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again.” The press wifi password at the event underscored that message: “KeptHisOath!” When a supportive SuperPAC first launched, allies said the 6th would be a fundamental part of their messaging. The group's first ad featured footage from the riot and contrasted the two men's actions that day. Since then, however, Pence has spent most of his energy casting himself as the most conservative candidate in the field on economic and social issues, particularly abortion, instead of going after Trump. He did not issue statements in response to Trump's first two indictments. And when he did react, he focused heavily on charges of a two-tiered system of justice and allegations that the Justice Department had been “weaponized” by the Biden administration. Pence had spent four years as a loyal Trump defender and even when pressed, seemed unwilling to drop his guard. But during a senior campaign leadership call on Monday, as Washington awaited news of the indictment, Pence and his team discussed the idea of releasing a statement this time given his central role in the day's events. Some on the call urged Pence to go further than he had been and to deliver a message in line with what he'd said as he launched his campaign and argued Trump was unfit to return to the White House. If we’re running against him, let's run against him, one person urged. A draft of the statement was ready by Tuesday morning, before the indictment was unveiled. “Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States," it read. “Our country is more important than one man. Our constitution is more important than any one man’s career." The next day, Pence continued to drive that message, telling reporters at the Indiana State Fair that, “Sadly the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear." On Fox, he pointed to “all the other legal issues around the president,” including a possible additional indictment in Georgia. Pence's team blasted out clips of the interview via email — “ICYMI: PENCE CHOSE THE CONSTITUTION OVER TRUMP AND ALWAYS WILL," they read — and Pence clashed with a conservative talk radio host who had characterized Pence's stance on the 6th as merely his “beliefs." The attention sparked by the Trump indictment also brought a cash infusion. The Pence campaign received 7,000 new contributions in the first 24 hours. While 5,000 of those stemmed from the more than one million pieces of direct mail the campaign recently sent out, it nonetheless marked a seven-fold increase from the campaign's usual daily haul and will likely qualify Pence for the first GOP debate in the coming days. Committed to America, the super PAC supporting Pence's candidacy, also increased its spending on digital ads amid heightened interest in Pence online. “This is the first of many moments Pence will have between now and the Iowa caucus,” said Scott Reed, the group's co-chair. The attention caught Trump's notice. “I feel badly for Mike Pence, who is attracting no crowds, enthusiasm, or loyalty from people who, as a member of the Trump Administration, should be loving him," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network, again repeating his false claims about Pence's role. Soon after, the campaign decided to move forward with the new merchandising plan. Marc Short, who was Pence's chief of staff on Jan. 6 and was referenced several times in the indictment, said Pence had grown increasingly tired of Trump's bad-mouthing. “I just think there's the reality that for two-and-a-half years, the president has misrepresented the events of that day and grossly distorted what the vice president's authority was and knowingly presented that in false ways to the American people. And I think that there's an understandable frustration," he said. “How much more can any one person ... tolerate?" While he said Short believes most Republican voters would rather be talking about other issues and focusing on Joe Biden, he said he always believed Pence's actions that day would serve as a point of strength. “I think people," he said, “respect him for upholding his oath under enormous pressure.” Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Mike Pence heckled by Trump supporters at town hall after rolling out mocking merch Chris Christie meets Volodymyr Zelensky in surprise Ukraine visit GOP presidential hopeful Chris Christie says 'inhumanity' of war is palpable during visit to Ukraine

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