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With three weeks of the transfer window remaining, Manchester United fans are delighted with their four summer signings so far. Five if you include manager Jose Mourinho.

Business has been costly and included the world record transfer fee , but the four targets Mourinho wanted have all signed before the first league game of the season at Bournemouth on Sunday. That hasn’t been the case in recent seasons.

Paul Pogba has excited most, followed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic , whose shirt is already the number one best seller, surpassing long time chart topper Wayne Rooney. Anthony Martial did briefly become the number one best seller last season, a chink of light in a grey moment of United’s history.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan comes with solid pedigree, having been named the best player in the Bundesliga by fellow pros last season.

Fans have felt this way before, especially when Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao signed two years ago. Both failed at United, but the current new signings appear better thought out as United attempt to get back to football’s top table – something they’ve been well short of in the last three years.

Eric Bailly is the lowest profile signing. The Ivorian defender cost £26 million from Villarreal , a largely unknown quantity to United fans. He impressed in Spain last season, but he wasn’t even a starter in his best position for the Spaniards a year ago.

One year on, he’s played more minutes than any other United player in the club’s five pre-season games. In the Community Shield, Bailly was the man of the match. He was tested by the fleet-heeled Jamie Vardy, but responded with an experience which belied his 22 years. Playing in Spain has served him well. It’s normal for central defenders to drop back when a full-back gets the ball, widening the angle to receive the ball. Baily did this and he also dropped back on Vardy, moving quickly onto the England man when he got the ball and usually timing a challenge well.

I spoke to Bailly after the game at Wembley. We had to be quick for he was the last player out of the showers and was under pressure to get on the team bus, joining the Community Shield for a 21 journey to Old Trafford. He speaks French and Spanish - his mates at the club are the Spanish speakers – though the French speaking Pogba will surely be able to help him out.

“I’m happy here, very content,” he said at Wembley. ‘I’m fitting in with my new teammates; I’m getting a good rhythm ahead of the season ahead. The trainer (Mourinho) is the best in the world. It’s great to work with him, to learn with him and from him. He was a main reason for me joining Manchester and I hope we’ll both be here for a long time.”

Bailly is adjusting to English football after only playing his professional football in Spain, the league which consistently produces the best football teams in the world. There are 55 countries in UEFA, yet teams from just one – Spain – have won all three European trophies in 2014, 15 and 16 – the latest when two Spanish sides Sevilla and Real Madrid contested the European Super Cup in Trondheim.

“La Liga is one of the best in the world, but it’s different from England,” explain Bailly. “Here the football is more direct, with more contact and more force. I think I can do well here. I’m training harder and my manager is explaining to me why the football is different here. It’s good that he has a lot of experience in this country.”

Bailly is still making mistakes. He was a relatively late starter in professional football and there’s still room for significant improvement, but he’s strong, quick, athletic and composed when he’s on the ball. Which is why Manchester City also wanted him.

“Nothing got past him and I’m really looking forward to seeing the player that he's going to become,” said Luke Shaw.

Bailly has impressed pre-season, but it remains to be seen whether he can outshine the bigger star signings once the League proper begins.