{"id":1096170,"date":"2019-06-28T18:52:29","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T17:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1096170"},"modified":"2019-06-28T18:52:29","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T17:52:29","slug":"two-signings-manchester-united-must-make","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/two-signings-manchester-united-must-make\/","title":{"rendered":"The two signings Man Utd should make to complete their summer rebuild"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester United have all but signed Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace, their second arrival of the summer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wan-Bissaka will cost a colossal \u00a350m plus add-ons, which goes alongside the \u00a315m already spent on Swansea winger Daniel James. With those moves, United have gotten younger, quicker, more talented and more British. It’s a promising start, but it also likely means United are halfway through their transfer business.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7297812-kieran-tierney-s-move-to-arsenal-almost-makes-too-much-sense<\/p>\n

In the last few years, United appear to have instituted a policy of signing four players in the summer window. After all the early hype about Ole Gunnar Solskaer being given the license to completely rebuild the United squad, more recent reports point to a more conservative window with, yup, four signings planned.<\/p>\n

Obviously, if big names were to leave, say Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku, then they would be replaced. But in terms of planned business, United have four signings lined up and they’ve made two, leaving two more to go. But who are those two? Who should they be? What positions should they play? Well, we have had a look.<\/p>\n

Centre-back<\/strong><\/h2>\n

United’s most obvious position of need is at centre-back. They have a whole platoon of them at the club right now but none of them are close to being the complete package, save Victor Lindelof, and even he has severe deficiencies in leadership and organisation.<\/p>\n

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United need a colossus and they instead have a bunch of clowns. Eric Bailly is inexperienced and looks shot of confidence, Chris Smalling is a solid back-up but will never be better than that, Phil Jones gets hurt by a slight breeze and Marcos Rojo is a spectacular disaster.<\/p>\n

The Candidates<\/strong><\/p>\n

United have been linked with just about every centre-back you can imagine, from Samuel Umtiti, Raphael Varane, Kalidou Koulibaly, Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire, Joachim Anderson plus many more. Some are obviously more realistic than others but most troublingly, only three of them really display the leadership and organisational capabilities to help fix United’s defence.<\/p>\n

The Choice<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Kalidou Koulibaly is the obvious choice here. The Senegalese is one of the top three centre-backs in the world and the fact that he might be available for something in the region of \u20ac100-120m is phenomenal. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he reads the game like a telepath, tackles with supreme rigour and is so committed to defensive organisation that he literally pushes team-mates into position if he has to.<\/p>\n

At 27, Koulibaly is in his prime as a defender and, even given the massive cost, would have a transformative effect on the United defence much in the same way Virgil van Dijk did for Liverpool. Samuel Umtiti would be a cheaper alternative but he may have a chronic knee problem and United don’t need another defender who just can’t stay fit.<\/p>\n