THE EVOLUTION OF MANCHESTER UNITEDS MIDFIELD AND HOW IT CAN BE IMPROVED

Manchester United have notoriously had unresolved midfield issues since the day Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Different strategies have been employed to fix the issues in the center of the park from signing the hottest thing on the market like they did with Paul Pogba or trusting in the youth like they have done with Scott McTominay at the time and Kobbie Mainoo now.

United have run through a number of midfielders in the past, but none of them has seemed to resolve those issues, Jose Mourinho's acquisition of Matic from Chelsea back in 2018 brought United the closest to having a somewhat balanced midfield which consisted of Matic, Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera, but it was a move that came at least three years too late since Matic was a player who was in decline.

Manchester United under Erik Ten Hag are currently in the market for a midfielder or two in order to hopefully finally address the issues in the middle of the park. Last season Manchester United’s midfield was consistently outran and outmuscled with the seeming decline of Casemiro being the highlight of this. The Brazilian was often dribbled past or passed around when he played, and with Ten Hag wanting his team to play a high pressing game while seemingly having a low back line it meant Casemiro had to defend acres of space on his own which was a recipe for disaster.

This season however, assuming Ten Hag fixes the tactical flaws in his system, a new midfield addition will be needed to complement the play styles of starters like Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes. The main question, however, is what kind of players Manchester United ought to target to fill that position. The player United should target should be able to provide something that the present United players cannot, as well as fit into Erik Ten Hag's tactical style. I'll go over several requirements for this hypothetical player and how having them would help the team in the following paragraphs.

The first attribute the player should possess is tempo setting/passing. Last season Amrabat, who was on loan at United from Fiorentina, was United’s most successful passer of the ball and the closest thing United had to a tempo setter from deep with the Moroccan ranking in the top 74 percentile for attempted passes, and top 76 percentile for successful passes with a passing accuracy of 87% - all very decent numbers, but United need a player who can match these numbers or exceed them while excelling at other things.

The next attribute the new midfield signing should possess is duel winning. Casemiro last season topped the metrics for United in tackles, interception and aerial duels won amongst midfielders, however when compared to other midfielders from around Europe his numbers don’t hold up well with him ranking in the top 38 percentile for interceptions for all midfielders in Europe’s top 5 leagues, a testament to how poor United were in general last season.

Lastly, a midfielder who can progress play to a good to elite level through carries or passes will suit the bill. There are players that can do this in the squad, players like Kobbie Mainoo, who is a good carrier, and Fernandes/Mount who are high volume creators as such that mold of player will balance out the team and midfield.

With all these being listed out, what names should United be chasing? A lot of names have been thrown around by the media recently from Manuel Ugarte to Martin Zubimendi, and now recently Sander Berge.

Manu Ugarte is an all action midfielder similar to Ngolo Kante in many ways but what he offers on the ball isn’t quite what United need with the Uruguayan ranking in the top 31 percentile for progressive passes. He also doesn’t fare too well with aerial duels. Therefore, he isn’t the tempo setter or controller that united need.

Martin Zubimendi on the other hand is near perfect on the ball ranking highly amongst Europe’s elite in passing accuracy and progressive passes. In addition to his respectable off-ball play and aerial duels, Ten Hags' high pressing style is well suited to his interceptions, which rank in the 68th percentile. However, his volume of defensive actions is unimpressive, and his 60 million euro release clause requires full payment, so United will need to sell to make room for this signing.

Another name being reportedly looked at is Sander Berge from Burnley. The Norwegian midfielder ranks very highly in passing completion, but he doesn’t attempt many passes with an average of 46 passes per 90. He prefers to drive with the ball from deep which isn’t exactly what United need from their potentially new holding midfielder. What is encouraging though is that Berge is very active defensively ranking very highly for blocks, clearances, interceptions, and aerial duels. Berge would be a good signing as a McTominay replacement and rotation option for Kobbie Mainoo.

The last name being looked at is Monaco midfielder Youssouf Fofana, the French international is out of contract next year and has garnered interest from AC Milan as well as Manchester United recently. Stylistically, he is not a perfect fit but his underlying numbers are very impressive as he is one of the top players when it comes to progressing the ball both via carries and passes. He also attempts more passes than any of the names mentioned even though he has the lowest passing accuracy out of all of them. While he isn’t the best at tackling and ranks very low for aerial duels and clearances, he is a very good interceptor, which will appeal to Ten Hag and his planned model for Manchester United.

In a perfect world I would suggest that United sign Zubimendi and Berge as Casemiro and McTominay replacements but with United’s purse strings being held down due to compliance with FFP regulations, they would have to be smart in how they do and structure deals. What I would suggest is either signing Fofana and one of Berge, trying to sign Amrabat, who was on loan at United last season, on another loan deal, or signing for a cheap price and offloading McTominay and maybe Casemiro, and then going out for an all-out long-term 6 next summer.