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The transfer window has finally closed, so after a dramatic, eventful and occasionally hilarious day and a half—and with a month of the season gone—where do Manchester United stand in terms of the season ahead?

Anyone who claims to have a definitive answer to that question should be treated with some suspicion.

Both the actual football and the frenetic transfer activity of the recent past have left plenty of questions to be answered, the answers to which will determine what United's realistic expectations are.

Will Wayne Rooney's form improve? Will Memphis Depay and Anthony Martial be able to impress this season, in spite of their current status as unpolished gems? Will David De Gea be able to give of his best for the club in the campaign ahead in spite of the uncertainty of the summer?

Will injuries leave Louis van Gaal ruing his decision to allow so many players to leave?

All these, and more, are the questions that need to be answered.

The first thing to do when breaking down United's expectations is to set the absolutes, separate from all of the above questions. In absolute terms, Louis van Gaal has now been in charge for three transfer windows and has overseen enormous turnover in the playing staff.

The squad may not be as perfect as he would like, but it is unarguably his team.

Last season saw him achieve his initial minimum target, and because of that, United are back in the Champions League. That will not be enough this time round. It is absolutely the case that Van Gaal's season will be deemed a failure if United are not better than they were in 2014/15.

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Improvement could either be achieved through reducing the points gap to whoever wins this season's title—Manchester City looking the team most likely in the early going—or winning some silverware.

Reducing a points gap is a somewhat inglorious target for a United manager, given the club's recent history of success, but the collapse since Sir Alex Ferguson retired means that a new baseline has to be established.

The final means of improvement is much more intangible, and that would be to bring the feel-good factor back to the football. This has been sorely lacking for the whole of the domestic season—the Champions League play-offs against Club Brugge being the only time United looked like a real attacking force.

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It seems reasonable to assume that doing that would increase the likelihood of improvements in results, so the two go hand in hand.

Critics of a reasonable, measured expectation—i.e. one that is less than "United should win the league this season"—will point to the money spent on new players as an argument that success should be immediate.

However, while running the risk of sending the comments section into a frenzy of "don't talk about spend, talk about net spend" meme-fodder, it is important to point out that the scale of United's investment has been greatly offset by money recouped from sales.

This summer, six players have come in and 15 have left, either sold or sent on loan, according to the club's website. Radamel Falcao also left, bringing the departures up to 16. Of course, some of those are young players who have never been a key part of United's setup, but plenty of first-teamers are among the number.

Now, not all of this counts as mitigation in Van Gaal's favour. In the case of Angel Di Maria, United would be much better off if they had the player playing at his best than they are with the money they got from his sale to Paris Saint-Germain this summer. The manager must share some of the responsibility for the player's failure.

However, the scale of outgoings—with the exception of Di Maria, all players who predated Van Gaal at United —shows just how much of an overhaul the squad required. Or, at least, it shows just how much of an overhaul the manager believed it required.

This has been the summer of axing dead wood.

Whether the tree has been cut too close to the bark—to use a metaphor that clearly demonstrates an ignorance of forestry—is one of the key questions mentioned above.

The squad looks pretty thin. An injury to Chris Smalling looks potentially calamitous. Enormous pressure seems to rest on Wayne Rooney's shoulders in terms of the goalscoring burden, and the season so far—Brugge aside—has given very little indication that he can bear it.

United's two marquee attacking signings are both youngsters facing a big step up in terms of both the competition of the Premier League and the scale of United as a club. Memphis has shown glimpses of real talent but, like Rooney, only found the net against Belgian opposition.

After a month at United, Memphis does not look like a player who will drive the team to the title this season.

Anthony Martial's signing is surely another destined to improve United in the long run rather than immediately. With his relative lack of impact for Monaco so far this season, it is hard to imagine him coming into the side and lighting up Old Trafford en route to a 25-goal season.

Of course, one huge potential positive for United to emerge from the end of the transfer window was the remarkable story of David De Gea's failed transfer to Real Madrid.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the story, his part in United's season is another of the questions that needs to be answered to determine United's potential success this season.

It is not too far-fetched to suggest, for example, that United would have conceded neither of the goals they did against Swansea City had De Gea been in goal and on top of his game.

If Van Gaal can get the best out of the Spanish stopper, and De Gea can put the confusion and disappointment of the summer behind him, United will be a good deal harder to beat.

Of course, the much-vaunted midfield improvements have already borne some fruit. With the exception of a five-minute spell against Swansea, United's midfield has functioned superbly as a defensive unit.

With a revitalised Luke Shaw at left-back and the ultra-assured Matteo Darmian at right-back, full-back seems taken care of—barring injury, of course.

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The departures of Falcao, Robin van Persie, Javier Hernandez, Adnan Januzaj, Angelo Henriquez, Nani and Di Maria have surely not been offset by the incomings to the attack.

It would not be that difficult to make an argument in favour of each individual outgoing. However, the cumulative effect, combined with how lacklustre United have been in front of goal this season, adds up to something that will be a cross to bear for Van Gaal if United do not improve in front of goal.

Ultimately, improvement in front of goal is the key as-yet-unanswerable question in terms of assessing United's expectations for the season. They simply cannot be a success if they do not start scoring more freely.

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And other than their apparently blunted attacking prowess, United's biggest concern, and biggest unanswered question, surrounds the issue of injuries. Van Gaal is operating with a lean squad, something that can be very effective in terms of team spirit and togetherness, but there is a house-of-cards quality to matters.

Each individual position has cover, but in some positions there is a pretty serious quality difference in the first and second choice—right-back for example. The real problem, though, will come if players who can provide cover in multiple positions—Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo, for example—get injured or suspended at the same time.

Between the pretty average football on show, and the lack of a "guaranteed success" type signing in the last hours of the transfer window, it is hard to be enormously optimistic about United's season.

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The one real shining light, though, is that Van Gaal is clearly not just interested in building for the short term. He clearly has his eyes on the club's medium- and long-term future, even if he will not be there to see the fruits of that. Memphis and Martial might not ever play their best football for a Van Gaal side.

They do have the potential to become very special players, though.

Shaw, Darmian, Ander Herrera and Morgan Schneiderlin should all serve the next manager as well as the current manager, as should the revitalised Chris Smalling.

The short-term future might be a little shaky, but there should be better ahead in the middle distance for this new version of United.

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In the final analysis, the expectations for this season remain about improvement. The league looks out of reach, as does the Champions League, and nothing in the final moments of transfer window has really changed that. It is vital, though, that Van Gaal's side are clearly building towards that brighter future.

If they are not, then the manager's time at the club could be even shorter than previously expected, and given the amount of upheaval United have endured over the past two years, that lack of stability is the last thing they need.