Manchester United clearly need to bring in at least one defender this summer, to marshall the central areas of a team that has lost Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in one summer.
But you would imagine that the main area of transfer focus would be the midfield.
Manchester United have already made the excellent signing of Ander Herrera but that does not address the lack of dynamism or grit in the middle of the park.
There has been a huge amount of speculation about the signing of Juventus dynamo Arturo Vidal, but his club have stated, of late, that he is not for sale. Things change very quickly of course and this could simply be a case of posturing from the selling club, in order to get the desired price.
But Manchester Untied will not want to be caught cold, as they were last summer. They will have other targets for that area of the team.
And even if the Vidal deal does get done Manchester United may want to look for another central midfielder anyway.
One of the best players at The World Cup, in the engine room of any team, was Germany international Bastian Schweinsteiger.
He’s an incredibly experienced player with 108 caps for his country but is still only 29. His odds have slowly been coming in on a move to Old Trafford and, over the last few days Manchester United have been made odds-on favourite with bookmaker SkyBet to sign Schweinsteiger this summer at 8/11.
Whether Manchester United would want to accommodate Vidal and Schweinsteiger in the same side depends on which formation Louis van Gaal plans to play next season.
But when players this good do come along then they should be snapped up by a Manchester United side that is desperately in need of more authority and control in the centre of the park.
Because, while players like Fletcher, Anderson and Cleverley can play to a decent standard, they aren’t up to scratch if Manchester United have designs on returning to domestic domination anytime soon.
Let’s see Schweinsteiger in action. Manchester United fans: Schweinsteiger or Vidal?
Pyn
Jul 17, 2014 at 6:34 pm
Vidal
s2hh
Jul 18, 2014 at 10:30 am
dream onnn man utd there is no way bayern will sell shwienstiger for he is the heartbeat of club and country.bayern dont sell their laegends apparently and no way does he want to go to some mid table epl club when he can stay and maybe win cl next season……..
Drewan Danehal
Jul 18, 2014 at 2:55 pm
Yes its highly unlikely to happen except that Bayern don’t pay such high wages…maybe that is not so important for Schweini and he seems very happy and settled…If this is so then Good luck to him, he is a fantastic player. However, don’t you think there is perhaps just a chance that he may want a different challenge now that he has won everything possible in club football in Europe and so many times in Germany with the same club? He has been there 9 years I think; that is a long time and he is 30 years old next month. If he does want a move then now is surely a good time; he is a big guy, he cant keep up the kind of box to box, high tempo, physical game he plays for much longer.
He may look at Manchester United (or another club) and think hmmm….that’s a lot of money, my last chance probably…The next contract will possibly be my last chance to make that kind of money
You can call United a mid table club if they finish outside the top 6 again at the end of next season and the following one…not after one or two seasons in 20.
Henderson
Jul 18, 2014 at 11:45 am
Just get Pogba back with DeJong in tow as well sorted !!
Harvey Setterfield
Jul 18, 2014 at 6:38 pm
Neither. Lingard. Job done. Was really peed off that Moyes didn’t have him starting regularly in the middle of midfield after his great performances during pre-season last year. Same goes for Zaha too.