Manchester United are Manchester United again. Winning trophies, playing exciting football and on course for Champions League qualification. Yet their ability to use this summer as a stepping stone towards Premier League and European success has been compromised by a damaging combination of prolonged failure, commercial flat-lining and even their partnership with a Russian airline.

Sources at United and UEFA have told ESPN this week that the club are expecting to comply with financial fair play (FFP) regulations this year, but as recently as January, football director John Murtough went on the record to say that United were focusing on being "financially disciplined and compliant with FFP rules." Murtough's comments at a fans' forum were a clear signpost to the challenges that lie ahead.

United's road map back to the top is by no means without hazards. They face a number of obstacles this summer, including a difficult balancing act to ensure that they comply with FFP, even if the club goes into the transfer window with new owners.

Even if a new owner arrives to succeed the Glazer family, United will be boxed in by all of the negative factors that have squeezed their transfer budgets over their years of decline.

United travel to Liverpool on Sunday aiming to win at Anfield for the first time since January 2016. They will also face Jurgen Klopp's team believing that, after almost a decade, it is they who are in the ascendancy while their traditional rivals are facing a difficult period of transition and perhaps even decline.

Liverpool need to rebuild an ageing midfield, with Borussia Dortmund's Jude Bellingham their No. 1 target, but the prospect of missing out on Champions League qualification this season (they are six points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with a game in hand), added to their owners' ongoing pursuit of new investment to help fund projects on and off the pitch, has left the club staring at an uncertain future.