Away from recruitment, there are issues to resolve at Man United before the new season starts on August 14.
Change the captain
A Yorkshireman has relinquished the captaincy, remained in the team and excelled without the added burden. Harry Maguire has retained the captaincy, lost his place in the team and struggled.
Ten Hag with possibly United’s next No.7
Maguire has been more stub𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 than Joe Root and his status has been untenable for 18 months now. Erik ten Hag rendered Maguire’s rank moot when he dropped him after the debacle at Brentford in the second game of last season but it is time for United to formally appoint a new leader.
Bruno Fernandes led United superbly last season, bar an aberration at Anfield. His performance level improved and he was influential in three different positions, having previously been pigeonholed as a No.10.
Fernandes is United’s de facto captain and deserves official recognition. Maguire cannot stick his head in the sand for much longer, not when the European Championship is in 12 months away. The England manager Gareth Southgate has said his lack of playing time at United is unsustainable.
Maguire is the United captain and an England regular. It sounds impressive but it is misleading after a more galling season than the previous one. Ten Hag was asked about Maguire’s captaincy at his press conference unveiling at Old Trafford in May 2022 and it is still topical.
New season and new beginnings? United ended last term with Aaron Wan-Bissaka as their starting right-back yet Diogo Dalot was furnished with a new five-year extension.
Both had good half-seasons but Ten Hag has to settle on which one will maintain that performance level over a full season. Dalot is the more rounded right-back but has not been in form at club level since November.
Victor Lindelof regained his third-choice status at centre-back, though it was peculiar Ten Hag briefly elevated Maguire above the Swede. Lindelof started the final 12 games of the season; his longest run in the team and best run of form. Such decisiveness is required with important squad roles.
Alejandro Garnacho’s rawness counted against him in the FA Cup final but the possibility that Jadon Sancho starts ahead of him again is as likely as no strawberries at Wimbledon next week. Garnacho is poised to become United’s next No.7 and the club is too big for the sorry Sancho, possibly third in the pecking order on the left and the right.
Designate a second right winger
If Amad performs during pre-season, it would be easy to dismiss it (Sancho was the standout performer on tour last year). If he flunks, then another loan will be touted.
Amad had a fine season on loan at Sunderland
Ultimately, United have a £37m left-footed right winger who sharpened his game in the cutthroat Championship with Sunderland. They also need some form of continuity in each position. Whenever Antony was injured last year, United’s balance was compromised as they lacked another left-footed forward on the right flank.
Sancho shone there in the final two Premier League games but might soon be consigned to the past whereas Amad is possibly the future.
Decide on initial academy promotions
Talking of how misleading pre-season can be, Zidane Iqbal was an accomplished performer from Bangkok to Perth, via Melbourne. Iqbal then did not get a kick in the first team and has just joined Utrecht in the Eredivisie.
Charlie Savage, also on tour, spent the second half of last season on loan with Forest Green Rovers, who were relegated back down to League Two. Midfielders Iqbal and Savage were both leapfrogged by Kobbie Mainoo, denied additional exposure by an injury that sidelined him for the last two months of the campaign.
Mainoo stood out during United’s winter friendlies
Mainoo, 18, should have a plane ticket to New York with his name on it. United only have four senior midfielders and Fred is deemed sellable.
Left-back Alvaro Fernandez impressed during his season-long loan with Preston North End while right-back Marc Jurado was promoted to the matchday squad against Nottingham Forest in April.
Identify strugglers worth the while
Sancho and Anthony Martial were possibly the most consistent performers across United’s four-game tour of Thailand and Australia last July but were both unreliable during the competitive season.
Martial is approaching his ninth campaign with United and has had more lives than a cat. He has outstayed his welcome and the only energy United should expend on the Frenchman is to sell him.
Martial and Sancho: two unsellable flops?
Sancho is also in danger of becoming a write-off and is unlikely to get as many lives. Donny van de Beek did nothing to suggest he has been stirred by a reunion with Ten Hag prior to his season-ending knee injury in early January.
The problem United have is they are going to be saddled with some, if not all, of these players. Ten Hag will need some, so he cannot alienate them before the season has started.
Teden Mengi has been out of the picture at United for the best part of two years due to loans and injuries but they need a fifth specialist centre half as cover.
Source: manchestereveningnews
