One of the areas the squad that is particularly questionable at Manchester United right now is at right back. Since Gary Neville got seriously injured 5 years ago Manchester United have chopped and changed in the position and never really settled on a long-term right back.
Phil Jones, Radael da Silva and Chris Smalling have all been positioned there. More recently, Antonio Valencia moved back from the wing to play most of last season there.
But with news that he has had an operation to remove screws from his ankle, will Manchester United now be forced into action?
The Guardian reports:
Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia has been ruled out of Ecuador’s campaign at the Copa América in Chile after ankle surgery.
Valencia, who established himself as Louis van Gaal’s first-choice right-back, had the operation to remove metal screws from the joint following United’s 0-0 draw at Hull City on the season’s final day.
The 29-year-old, who has 75 Ecuador caps, had the screws inserted after suffering a fractured ankle and ligament damage in September 2010 during a Champions League group match at Rangers.Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia has been ruled out of Ecuador’s campaign at the Copa América in Chile after ankle surgery.
Valencia has had a successful United career
There is no suggestion that Valencia will miss the start of next season at the moment. But with Manchester United absolutely desperate to hit the ground running next season – Louis van Gaal blamed a slow start for United’s title failures – perhaps it’s now inevitable that a new right back will come in this summer.
Valencia has doen a decent job there but a specialist right back like Nathaniel Clyne could offer more in the defensive and attacking areas. Valencia has been sporadically exposed in defence and no longer has the guile/burst of pace to beat the opponent so regularly.
Manchester United fans: is a new right back now a priority for the summer?
