Transfer Season: What does Manchester United need?
Over the next six weeks, there will be many rumors in the air of players going to clubs for ridiculous amounts of money. Until August 31st, fans will continue to anticipate if these rumors can become a reality. I’ll let the papers do their job while I analyze what United needs to do in order to improve their squad in preparation for another exciting season.
In two contrasting moves, Mourinho has greatly improved the squad. On Friday, June 9th, it was announced that Zlatan’s contract would not be extended at Manchester United. Due to the severity of Zlatan’s injury, this is the correct decision. The following day, the club announced that they have agreed to terms with Benfica for Central defender Victor Lindelof. Fans are already comparing him to Nemanja Vidic, and watching how he fits to the English game is sure to be interesting.
So, who else do United need to get?
With the defense looking set it’s time to offload Chris Smalling and Phil Jones then promote Axel Tuanzebe to the first team. In midfield, United need to get a solid central midfielder. Someone aggressive who can break up play and get on the floor to dish out some hard tackles. The team has lacked a beast in the midfield for too long. Fabinho has been rumored to be joining, and he would be perfect. He needs to come and taunt the noisy neighbors constantly.
The purchase of a left footed winger or wing forward is also overdue. People might say Martial can play in that position but he is at his best when he plays as a striker. The attack looked unbalanced last season with too many right footed players and some players playing out of position.
One left footed attacker who would be great is Ousmane Dembele. He is lightning quick, very skillful, creates great goal scoring chances and also scores. He had 12 assists and 6 goals and won the man of the match award 5 times in the Bundesliga last season. Dembele, Rashford and Martial in the lineup would be deadly.
Mourinho has been criticized for not fancying young players and this might be why United have been linked with Ivan Perisic. Last season was Perisic’s best season as a professional and this could be a good move. He scored 11 goals and created 61 chances with 8 of those leading to assists. At 28, he is at the peak of his career and the opportunity to play at one of the biggest clubs might see United get the best out of him.
In the first preseason game, United played a 3–5–2 formation and this hints why Mourinho wants Perisic. If he plans to play this system for most of the season, United would needs strong wing backs who use the full width of the pitch effectively to stretch teams. Valencia has owned the right wing back position and Perisic can step up to the challenge for the left wing back position.
With the signing of Romelu Lukaku, United now have more options in the striker department. He is a typical Mourinho player, which is ironic because he sold him when they were both at Chelsea. For all the criticism Lukaku gets, no one can deny that he is goal machine. He is almost a lock to score 25 plus goals playing in Manchester. Who partners him, Rashford, Martial or even Mata?
Even though Mourinho said he doesn’t want to do any business after the 1st of July, it looks as if he’s playing the waiting game with some of his targets. Keep a close eye on what’s going on at Old Trafford, because some more big names could be arriving shortly.
