The first transfer window of Manchester United’s INEOS-led era was never likely to solve all of the many issues that part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe had inherited by taking the reins of football operations at Old Trafford.

It needed to make a start at fixing some of them, though. And, once all was said and done, United addressed all of the three positions identified as a priority when the window opened: Joshua Zirkzee at centre-forward, Manuel Ugarte in central midfield, and Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt as centre-backs.

United also took the opportunity to add another option at right-back in the form of Noussair Mazraoui and secured the signing of Sekou Kone, a highly regarded 18-year-old midfielder who will begin his Old Trafford career in the academy.

Yet in an era of financial fair play and profitability and sustainability, that spending needed to be balanced by sales. Scott McTominay, Mason Greenwood and Aaron Wan-Bissaka all departed for eight-figure fees, among some less lucrative exits for players on the fringes of Erik ten Hag’s squad.

Last week, The Athletic invited United supporters to tell us how they feel about this summer’s business and Ratcliffe will be heartened to learn that the vast majority were pleased with what they saw.

Sixty per cent of respondents said they were happy with the business overall, while a further 16.5 per cent went as far as to say they were ‘very happy’. That’s more than three quarters of the fanbase feeling positive. In fact, there is very little negativity around United’s window at all.

Around 18 per cent kept their powder dry and were waiting to see how new signings settle in before passing judgement, while only 5.7 per cent described themselves as either ‘unhappy’ or ‘very unhappy’ with this summer’s ins and outs. The proportion of ‘very unhappy’ fans was tiny.

Why would those fans be unhappy? Possibly because — as seems to be the case after every summer at Old Trafford — there are still gaps to plug. Specifically, the gap that opens up every time opponents play through United’s attempts to press and then run freely at a retreating back line.

Ugarte’s arrival from Paris Saint-Germain in an initial €50million (£42.2.m; $55.4m) deal should help with that but, interestingly, almost two-thirds of fans want to see further reinforcements in midfield.

It will not be a surprise if circumstances dictate that United revisit that area of the squad next summer. Christian Eriksen’s contract is up next summer and Casemiro continues to be linked with an exit, despite having two years to run on his deal.

Some fans felt United could still have strengthened in attack. The signing of a more experienced centre-forward in addition to Zirkzee was looked at, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin discussed internally, but not in great depth.

There is still work to do then, but the aim this summer was to strengthen the squad and four-fifths of respondents believe that chief executive Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and United’s other key decision-makers have done just that.

There is no doubt as to which of United’s five first-team signings fans are most excited about. Half of respondents picked Yoro out as the best of United’s business. Even though the 18-year-old centre-back is still waiting to make his debut after aggravating a metatarsal issue, it is not difficult to see why.

United’s prospects of winning the race for one of the most highly rated young prospects in world football were not especially bright when the window opened. Not only was there interest from just about every top European club, Yoro’s preference for a move to Real Madrid was also no secret in the industry.

United stayed the course, though, maintaining contact with Yoro’s agent Jorge Mendes in the belief that Madrid may not meet Lille’s demands and an opportunity would arise. They were right.

Was €62million for an 18-year-old with a year remaining on his contract a little on the high side? Arguably yes, and whether Yoro lives up to his immense potential remains to be seen, but this was the type of difficult, highly competitive deal that United have rarely pulled off in recent years.

To sign Yoro was a huge coup for the new leadership — hence why almost 95 per cent of fans felt United’s transfer policy is now in more capable hands under the new, INEOS-led structure.

In fairness, they did not have a particularly high bar to clear. Only 5.4 per cent of respondents believe that there has been no improvement on United’s recruitment in windows past, around the same percentage unhappy with the summer’s business overall.

One of the key areas in need of improvement was on the other side of the ledger: selling, rather than buying, players. United sold nine first-team players this summer, released another six, and allowed Jadon Sancho to join Chelsea on loan with a conditional obligation to buy for a fee between £20m and 25m.

Excluding Sancho’s fee for now, United recouped approximately £112million from sales this summer, including potential add-ons — their most in a single window, surpassing even the summer of Cristiano Ronaldo’s world-record £80million exit.

Although some of the fees were suppressed by expiring contracts, United sold far better than in previous windows. Supporters largely recognised that, with 83.7 per cent happy with the fees brought in.

Interestingly, the only question that received a less than positive response regarded fans’ hopes for the rest of the season.

A slender majority felt no more or less optimistic about United’s prospects once the window closed, with only 38.4 per cent describing themselves as ‘more hopeful’. A small but significant 10.4 per cent are more pessimistic after the summer’s business. A mixed bag then, at best.

Perhaps that’s what happens when you conduct a survey the weekend that Liverpool win 3-0 at Old Trafford. But it also reflects the scale of the task at hand for Berrada, Ashworth and co.

When speaking to journalists ahead of Sunday’s defeat, Berrada said it was “almost impossible” to say how long it will take for United to be in a position where only minor tweaks, rather than significant changes, are required each summer.

“You need to take good decisions consistently for many years to get into a position where you are a financially sustainable club that is competing to win every single competition, which is where we want to be,” he said.

“We want to create a team that is capable of competing for the Champions League, for the Premier League and for the domestic cups on a consistent basis. So to build that, we need to be doing more of what we have done in this window.”

Old Trafford officials believe this summer was a positive start — but only a start. On both those counts, United supporters would appear to agree.