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For Manchester United, it's a glimpse of what could have been. When they face Tottenham Hotspur in Shanghai on Thursday, their rivals should have a man who could have traded clubs and traded at Old Trafford last season. The age of Toby Alderweireld counted against him. José Mourinho wanted it, Ed Woodward did not want it and the Belgian helped the Spurs reach the final of the Champions League.
Even with a release clause of 25 million pounds (114 million dirhams), Alderweireld is not on United's radar this year. He seems happy to stay in Tottenham. But for the second consecutive summer, Harry Maguire is on the wish list. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: "They have reached an obstacle". The transfer market's inflation is such that United will have to pay record fees for a central defender for sale by Leicester City.
If that created a hole in the bank's balance, there would be an excess in another respect. While United has not signed the central defender that Mourinho wanted last summer, they already have too many. If Maguire were to arrive, it would be both the most expensive and the best of the group. Alderweireld would also have been a considerable improvement, not just because the Spurs conceded 15 goals less in the league than United last season.
If United has more quantity than quality, it leaves the incumbents in an internal battle for their survival and the club looking for candidates for generous contracts. If most clubs want four central defenders and United, given the injuries of their players, may need five, they already have six. Maguire would make seven.
Which would suggest that two of Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Axel Tuanzebe should leave. The young Tuanzebe would be the easiest to eliminate: Aston Villa would gladly take it on loan. Yet, if he was available, he would probably be gone now. The clash of Tuanzebe against Inter Milan led Solskjaer to declare: "Axel will be the future of this club".
Tuanzebe should play the role of the fifth central defender. The place as a partner of Maguire should be reserved for Victor Lindelof: a candidate for reform, 12 months ago, was undoubtedly the exceptional player of United in difficult season. The Swede showed his stature. It is a positive element of Mourinho's legacy.
Which makes it two to four. Bailly became United's top central defender in his first 18 months at the club. Injuries, indiscipline, an erratic form and a scramble with Mourinho that made him a full player have altered this impression, but he is 25 years old and has a capacity in his favor. He should stay.
Obviously, Marcos Rojo should leave. His record can be terrible, his fitness record, after 27 league games in 27 months, a little better. The most surprising thing is that United has hired Argentina until 2021 at a rate of £ 160,000 a week.
Throw it away, though, and United's decision will be familiar: Jones or Smalling? This is a recurring theme of the 2010s, two constants more and more decried have lingered, never realizing their full potential, often playing less against each other than they were when they have were paired with others, implicating a diet where they survived more than successful, providing some of the morons who have marked United's history since Alex Ferguson.
This is one of the quirks of United planning to grant extended chords – Smalling to 2022, Jones to 2023 – since Mourinho left. Smalling, presented as a possible captain by Bryan Robson, has seniority on his side, a superior fitness record and a better form over the past two seasons; his show at Paris Saint-Germain was perhaps his best under a United shirt.
Jones may have more abilities and, at age 27, more longevity, but Smalling usurped him in his private rivalry and Maguire moved him as a central England defender. Get Maguire and Jones should join Rojo at the exit.
Last Updated: July 24, 2019 16:33
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