With a week of the January transfer window already over, all the teams around are getting down to business as fast as possible including United to land their targets and fulfill their gaps in the weak areas of the squad.
Chelsea has already got the Pulisic deal done while Real Madrid has signed Brahim Diaz from Manchester City.
IT'S OFFICIAL!
Chelsea have signed Christian Pulisic for $72.7 million and loan the USMNT star back to Dortmund until this summer. pic.twitter.com/ggm3gfxMON
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) January 2, 2019
Manchester United interim boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted and agreed to the problems pointed out by his predecessor, Jose Mourinho. He has asked Ed Woodward to look into it and get a center back signed with the issues needing a solution pretty soon as United look to get through to the latter stages of the UCL and secure a top 4 finish in the league.
With already an alleged bid of 95 million pounds for Napoli center-back rejected in December end, it looks hard that United will be able to land Kalidou Koulibaly at least during this window. Jerome Boateng, Diego Godin, Harry Maguire all have been linked as potential arrivals but none of them arrived the previous summer.
Milan Skriniar is another name that was linked as the season panned out, with the highly rated Slovak and his abilities doing rounds across Europe. Ole has also stopped and rejected any potential loan moves away for the club’s youngsters, as he feels they’ll develop best under him at United.
Angel Gomes and Tahith Chong, both were apparently wanting loan moves away from the club while Mourinho was in charge but they got frustrated at their opportunities and felt their development had stalled. But, since the managerial change, the prospects and traditions of developing young home grown players seems to be back on track.
Angel Gomes was named on the bench for the trip to Cardiff, and he made a brief appearance as a substitute against Huddersfield. Tahith Chong was named as a substitute for the Reading game and he came on to replace Juan Mata.
https://twitter.com/TahithC/status/1081929954730876931
Every one is aware of the defensive issues, particularly at central defense, because of Mourinho’s constant rant and complaints made publicly. The two most prominent names United are rumored to go for are Kalidou Koulibaly and Milan Skriniar.
Kalidou Koulibaly stats show that the Senegal defender has a Pass Accuracy of 88.5% in the league across 18 appearances. He boasts a great defensive record of
- 2.4 Ariels won per match,
- 1.9 Tackles won per match,
- 0.7 Blocks per match,
- 4.1 Clearances per match,
- 1.4 Interceptions per match,
Although he does give away 1.2 Fouls per 90 minutes.
Milan Skriniar has a Passing Accuracy of 93.1% in the league across 17 appearances. His defensive record of
- 1.8 Ariels won per match,
- 2.1 Tackles per match,
- 3.8 Clearances per match,
- 0.8 Interceptions per match,
- 1.1 Blocks per match
Skriniar also commits 1.2 Fouls per 90.
Koulibaly is an established and brilliant central defender with an age of 27 years. Skriniar is a technical and potentially brilliant center half at just 23 years, with time on his side for him to prove his class.
United will certainly make a move for them, but it’s not necessary that they’ll be able to fix this issue in this transfer window itself. United chairman Ed Woodward and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are looking for the long term fix so that the next manager doesn’t face the same issues that have been circulating in the United squad.
Kostas Manolas is another name that has also been linked with United with more than willing to pay his €36 million release clause. But whatever the decision may be, the board will certainly be looking to solve it for the next man in charge come next season, whoever that may be.
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