On Sunday afternoon, Manchester United produced a defensive horror show, as they suffered a 6-1 hammering at Old Trafford against a superb Tottenham. The likes of Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane made the most of United’s generous keystone cops defending to exact an absolute hammering.
A terrible defence
The back four that lined up for Manchester United on Sunday cost just shy of £200million. From the look of it, you don’t get much for £200million nowadays in the transfer market. Probably the worst piece of defending came when centre-back Harry Maguire decided to push teammate Luke Shaw out of the way, only for Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele to nip in and score.
It was not the only defensive mistake, but it was one that seems to typify United in defence. The Red Devils look set to sign left-back Alex Telles from Porto. However, he does not improve the quality in the centre of defence. United seem to have major problems attempting to find a solution to their centre-back problems. Splashing £80milion on Maguire was certainly not the answer.
United look to be in desperate need of a new centre-back, but after their failure in recruiting the right defenders in the recent past, it seems they are incapable of making a well-informed decision on defenders. Maybe they need to hire a director of football, who knows the game. Depending on chief executive Ed Woodward to make football decisions has not yielded great success.
A quiet transfer window
Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has not been quiet about his thoughts on the lack of business conducted by his former team in the current transfer window. The Sky Sports pundit labelled United’s performance against Tottenham as ‘pathetic’.
It is fair to say that Neville knows his stuff when it comes to the men from Manchester. He is not only an ex-player but also a fan. He has voiced the concerns of the Old Trafford faithful about the lack of signings. The one signing United have made was that of Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek from Ajax. Although he is a quality, he plays in a position that United are well covered in. It was maybe a case of a transfer target becoming available and they couldn’t miss the opportunity to sign him.
Could it be a busy deadline day for Manchester United
Of course, today is the European transfer deadline day. United are expected to complete a deal for Telles, but will there be any other new arrivals at United before the transfer window shuts? One of the most likely deals to happen at some point today is free agent Edinson Cavani arriving in Manchester. However, there is no rush to sign the forward, as the 33-year-old is a free agent so can sign outside of the transfer window.
Beyond Telles and Cavani, it seems unlikely that anything else will happen with incomings at United today. It is transfer deadline day, though, so anything could happen. It is now just a case of watching and waiting to see what happens.
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Who will Manchester United sign on transfer deadline day?
