Some players will be moving on from Manchester United this summer, while Jose Mourinho is expected to bring in some new faces.
United will wrap up their season in the coming weeks and transfer season will kick into gear.
The likes of Daley Blind, Matteo Darmian and Marouane Fellaini may all move on while Mourinho’s priority will surely be strengthening his defence and providing some attacking impetus up the flanks. Saying that, the big, big priority is convincing David De Gea to stick around another season longer.
Some, such as former Liverpool and United forward Michael Owen, look at United’s current squad and claim there is no need to go heavy in the transfer market during the off season. Owen tells us:
“It’s not so much about personnel for United. Personally, when I look at that current United squad they should be doing better than they are. They are still not the United I expect to see.
“Jose is a defensive type of manager. He can make defenders look better and attackers look worse. If I was an attacker, I’d like to play in any other side in the top six than United.”
Mourinho is likely to stick with the array of attacking talent the has available and the big call he may make this year is whether or not to keep Anthony Martial in his squad.
United have been linked with a move for Robert Lewandowski but the only player that could easily fit into the team could be Antoine Griezmann. The French attacker has a release clause of €200m on his Atletico Madrid contract but that will drop to €100m come July 1st.
In terms of United’s defence, they have been linked with the following players this season – Rahael Varane, Danny Rose, Samuel Umtiti, Alex Sandro, Jose Maria Gimenez and Celtic’s Kieran Tierney. They have conceded 26 goals in the Premier League – second only to Manchester City – but the United defence has been bailed out by De Gea on innumerable occasions.
While Antonio Valencia continues to clock up serious miles from right back, the left back slot has proved problematic and it has been no surprise to see United linked to a host of the continent’s top young full-backs. Luke Shaw was supposed to be the long-term solution but, three years on, he remains a frustrating enigma. Securing the signature of Danny Rose would be shrewd by Mourinho.
The smartest bit of transfer business United could carry out this summer would be to bring in Tottenham and Belgium defender Toby Alderweireld. The 29-year-old seems destined to leave Spurs after being frozen out of first team for long periods by Mauricio Pochettino.
Earlier this season, Belgian outlet DH reported that Alderweireld would be available for €50m (£44m) this summer. Were he to provide defensive stability and leadership for United over the next four seasons, that would represent a bargain.
All that leaves is for Mourinho to select a starting XI from the wealth of talent he would have available to him. This is how we would see the Portuguese lining out his new-look United side:
UNITED XI WITH TOP TRANSFER TARGETS
That still leaves the likes of Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial, Chris Smalling and Ashley Young in reserve.
