Martin Samuel: Scratch beneath the surface and Manchester United’s rebuild is as daunting as Chelsea’s

So why, if United lose to a very good Brighton & Hove Albion side at Wembley today (Sunday), might it feel a bit like failure? The FA Cup is not the be-all and end-all for the club. Neither, for that matter, is the Europa League. If Ten Hag secures a top-four spot, particularly with a domestic trophy to go with it, this will have been an excellent first campaign.

United have failed to reach Europe’s most prestigious tournament in four of the nine seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson left. This is a solid start. Ralf Rangnick said it would take United six years to catch up with the Premier League’s frontrunners – and Ten Hag will have achieved it in one.

Yet, heavens, there is so much still to do. What recent encounters have shown is that scratch the surface and United remain a shell. They face a rebuild every bit as great as that at Chelsea, or Liverpool, even Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United. If the obvious progression is to title contention then Ten Hag has many more squad players than first-team choices. Start naming United players that would contend for a place in the wider group at Manchester City. Have you got a right back in there? A goalscorer? More than two midfielders? A winger?

The clear-out at Old Trafford appears every bit as necessary as the one planned at Chelsea, except without the attendant pressures of Financial Fair Play. It is one thing being ruthless with Cristiano Ronaldo – he was always going to have an escape route, somewhere in the world – but try getting the injury-prone Anthony Martial off the books, or Harry Maguire at a price comparable with the one paid. Would Crystal Palace take back Aaron Wan-Bissaka? Not for pounds 50 million they wouldn’t.

It is why, for all the positives in United’s season – and there have been many, particularly given the way it started – Ten Hag still has a job every bit as daunting as that faced by Graham Potter’s eventual permanent successor. There was a whirlwind recruitment policy at Chelsea, but the business is largely done. A good starting XI may yet clamber out from under the wreckage and confusion, once shaped by the right man.

Ten Hag and United are not there yet. They face competition for Declan Rice, for Jude Bellingham, for Harry Kane. Their bargain-hunting does not appear as canny as that of Newcastle, or even today’s (Sunday’s) opponents, Brighton.

Of course, a win at Wembley would briefly erase the negativity around defeat in Seville. If United could land two domestic trophies it may even merit a parade – particularly if, in doing so, they deny City the chance to emulate their Treble – yet undoubtedly, this is still an enormous project.

This afternoon, United will face a team who are expertly constructed, drilled, hardworking and efficient – everything they would hope to be – yet assembled on the cheap.

Even if this game shows United how far they have come, the model at Brighton remains a reminder of how far there is to go.

Originally published as Martin Samuel: Scratch beneath the surface and Manchester United’s rebuild is as daunting as Chelsea’s