Man Utd seems to be becoming more stable with consecutive victories in all competitions. Since the World Cup closed, the Red Devils have played 3 matches, they won all 3 and did not let the opponent concede a goal. Obviously they are living in the breath of Marcus Rashford and the certainty of the defence. However, to squeeze into the top 4 will be a very long way that Erik Ten Hag and his students need to go.
Man Utd is flying high with Rashford’s brilliant form.
Ten Hag entered the winter transfer window with the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. This means they only have right Anthony Martial as a striker (although many of the past seasons Martial has played on the wing at Man Utd). The lack of options for the top playing position is likely to cost the Man Utd board, even though they have spent more than 200 million pounds in the summer.
Dusan Vlahovic is currently worth more than 80 million pounds. Cody Gakpo, who is less than half the price, joined Liverpool in just 48 hours of negotiations. There are not too many options left for Man Utd at the moment. Some reports say that they are closely monitoring the situation of Marcus Thuram and Memphis Depay, whose contracts with the host club expire in June this year. However, in essence, these are still risky deals.
Depay has failed at Man Utd once and no one dares to guarantee that he is suitable for the English football environment. Thuram is still a potential player and has never tried at a big club.
If you want to invest at a relative level, the Old Trafford team must push away the redundant people. Following in Ronaldo’s footsteps, reserve goalkeeper Martin Dubravka was seen saying goodbye to the club after only six months.
This is a strange deal for Man Utd and they seem to have realized their mistake. Immediately after this deal, Aaron Wan-Bissaka may be the one to leave. He was thrown out of the team’s plan when Ten Hag came to power and only returned to play in the last few matches when Diogo Dalot was injured.
Wan-Bissaka has not been used much since the beginning of the season.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano commented on the case to GiveMeSport: “They were 100% ready to let him go. They wanted Wan-Bissaka to leave. At that point, they wanted to bring in a new right-back. Let’s wait and see who will be the rookie of Man Utd.”
Obviously, the flash of light against Burnley in the Carabao Cup was not enough for Ten Hag to change his mind about Wan-Bissaka. He needs a good attacking defender for the rest of the season and “buy new” is the fastest way to solve the problem.
Even Harry Maguire also faces an uncertain future at Man Utd. Although he is the god of the England team, before Wolves, the Man Utd captain only entered the field in the 90 + 2 minutes, with the task of “buying time”.
Ten Hag must be thinking that, pushing away the four names mentioned above, the Red Devils will be able to be a bit stronger on the market. With the rush of January, Ten Hag’s decision was understandable, albeit somewhat cruel.
Crouching Dragon | 12:38 January 2, 2023
