Manchester United are a billion dollar brand - but can they still attract world-class players?

The Premier League big guns have made a £58million approach for the Juventus ace, but the Frenchman is also wanted by Barca

Manchester United have won something recently. It turns out they finished top of the 2015 Football 50 Brand Value ranking table – whatever that is.

Not only that, they did it in some style, becoming football’s first billion dollar brand.

In their marketing offices, they will no doubt be uncorking the Casillero Del Diablo, the official wine of Manchester United.

Now all Louis van Gaal and Ed Woodward have to do is to convince world-class footballers the club is more than just a brand.

And convince them that a Premier League flush with cash – but flirting with mediocrity – is the place for them.

Van Gaal and Woodward face a summer that could define the coming decade for United. They have the ­financial firepower to tackle it.

Just in case anyone needed reminding, Robin van Persie outlined the club’s fiscal muscle.

“United spent £200million on players last year and they are going to spend another £200million this summer, so we will have a team that can compete for the title,” he said.

One does not always follow the other, but you get his drift. But the problem will come in spending the £200million.

The acquisition of the prodigiously talented Memphis Depay was a good start. And it is very early days, of course.

At most places, you will have to wait until August for the clunking deals.

But there are signs United and the Premier League will not be able to summon superstars simply by talking telephone-number salaries.

Dani Alves would have been an obvious fit for United, but renewed a Barcelona contract that was due to expire on June 30.

Alves remains on £4.6million a season at the Nou Camp. Great money. But you suspect United would have been able to double that figure, given the chance.

They would probably push their wages boundaries towards the £300,000-a-week mark if it meant getting Gareth Bale out of a city that has not exactly taken him to its bosom.

Publicly, Bale has to say his commitment is with Real Madrid. But that is also understood to be his private conviction. The lure of Old Trafford is not irresistible to him yet.

Bale’s Bernabeu team-mate Karim Benzema has been touted as part of a deal that would take David De Gea to Madrid, but the French striker is also said not be wildly enthusiastic about a move to Manchester.

Most will understand the reasons, should De Gea end up at Real this summer. But it would still represent a world-class player not wanting to be at Old Trafford.

The issue is not exclusive to the league’s most successful and biggest institution.

It will be intriguing to see how many truly elite players from foreign leagues arrive in the Premier League.