Even before Paul Scholes announced his retirement at the end of May, Manchester United have been crying out for a replacement.
The signings of Phil Jones, David De Gea and Ashley Young are certainly exciting prospects but none can plug the gap left in the centre of midfield. Sir Alex Ferguson’s pursuit of Alexis Sanchez may be a mouth-watering proposition for the Premier League but he is not the player that Manchester United currently need.
Fast and tricky Alexis Sanchez has been attracting interest from around Europe (with the frontrunners currently looking to be Barcelona) and whilst he would offer Manchester United another attacking dimension, Alex Ferguson already has the likes of Ashley Young and Nani who can play the same role.
The lack of depth and match-winning quality in the centre of midfield is something that Fergie must address and he can’t be distracted by any bidding wars for the likes of Sanchez.
The current central midfield line-up includes Ryan Giggs, Darron Gibson, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick and Anderson. Giggs will continue to offer quality in the centre of the park but at 37 can’t be expected to consistently start every game. The other four all offer Fergie Premier League quality (e.g. Carrick’s passing and Fletcher’s work ethic) but there is no midfield enforcer that can sit in front of the defence and break up play whilst Fergie also lacks a creative attacking midfielder who can burst forward and link with the attack.
But what are Fergie’s options in the transfer window? Roma’s Daniele De Rossi is a tough central midfielder with European and international experience whilst Javi Martinez shone at the recent European U21Championships playing as a deep lying midfielder despite being more of a box to box player.
Ferguson’s interest in Arsenal’s Samir Nasri also pinpoints that Fergie is willing to address the need for a creative force in the centre of the park. Other possible players that would fill that role could include Wesley Sneijder, Luka Modric and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Any of these names above would offer the vision, technique and goal threat to work as the linchpin for United in the centre of the park. The only problem may come down to transfer funds, with any player of considerable quality demanding such high fees. Fergie may have to be willing to continue to spend big to really replace Scholes.
With the chase for Sanchez still on Ferguson can’t be distracted by the Udinese winger. I would love to see Sanchez in the Premier League but Fergie must first address current squad problems rather than trying to out-bid their rivals for a player they don’t really need.
Written by Jenny Kerwood of Football FanCast
Manchester really needs to think this through and identify the areas to fill in that particular gap than just signing up Alexis Sanchez. True the cost is going to remain high but it is worth it in the end of the day. Go Manchester!!!
Ralph
i agree that the signin of sanchez would create headaches for fergie coz we already have young,nani plus valencia.i think young should be the one to replace scholes with nani and valencia on the wings then sign lass diarra and make him a defensive link
I couldn’t disagree more with this. I understand we need to get a central midfielder, but a player like Sanchez doesn’t come around all the time. It looks like he is going Barcelona anyway, but if a window of opportunity does open then Man Utd must at least try. He is a special player and will be a world beater one day, possibly on the same level as Ronaldo and Messi.
He would add that spark that out team has really lacked since Ronaldo left. He can play on the right, left or as a striker. I do like Nani but sometimes a player comes around that is better and you can’t miss out. It happens and it is harsh, but its the reality. Nani was not in the Champions League final team and that speaks volumes really. We would never leave Rooney out and we wouldn’t have left out Ronaldo. We need more players on that level. I get that possibly signing Sanchez, along with a central midfielder, would most likely result in Nani and Berbatov being sold.
The team did amazing last season to win the league and go to the Champions League final. It wasn’t the best team, and that’s the point. Ferguson knows that his team possibly overachieved last season, and other teams failed to take advantage. It won’t happen again, and that’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if the manager tries for two more attacking players, but of real quality.
like i said united could buy the best attacking midfielders in the world but i trully believe without a proper defensive midfilder our defense will always be exposed
agree, DM should be first priority and yet there’s virtually no rumours of being linked to one. M’Villa, among others, is a good option.
I agree with Tom, although its important that we sign a central midfielder. Sanchez is the kind of player that Man Utd should be going for because he can improve our team. Its the kind of signing that would give the fans a massive boost. It looks like he is going Barcelona, but Man Utd should be competing for talent like his.
In regards to our the central midfielder I don’t think we necessarily need a defensive midfielder. We have Carrick, Fletcher and even Anderson. They are not like Hargreaves but they do a good job.
We don’t have a natural defensive midfielder, but we have Ryan Tunnicliffe. Hopefully he can shine out on loan because he could have a big future for us.
What we lack in the immediate future is a creative spark with intelligent attacking passing. We need a Sneijder type player.
We rily need players like lassan diarra and maybd turn valencia into an attacking mid fielder,he has potential and don’t forget “j s park” he rily is a good player you can turn into a world football star.
I personally think sanchez would be fantastic for us. Then we could easily let nani go to Inter in some sort of swap deal for sneijder, ( squad strenghtend).