Italian Midfielder Man Utd Should Consider As Herrera’s Longterm Replacement

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Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera has been in superb form since the arrival of caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
After enduring a tough time of it under former United boss Jose Mourinho, the Spaniard has won his place back in the first team and is flourishing in beside Nemanja Matic. The duo’s strong on-field understanding and discipline has allowed Ole to push Paul Pogba further forward and the French World Cup winner is now a game changer in his new role.
While it’s all rosy just now, Premier League giants Man United might be looking for longterm midfield solutions.
Matic is thirty years old and Herrera is twenty-nine. The Spaniard has still to agree a new contract at Old Trafford, with his current deal finishing up in the summer.
With that in mind, United seem to be keeping tabs on Cagliari midfield star Nicolo Barella. Manchester Evening News have revealed that the club are interested in the youngster and state the Serie A club have put a €50m price tag on the midfielder’s head.
Barella is one of Italy’s hottest prospects at the moment and has even been lauded as the new Andrea Pirlo.
Pirlo has already declared himself a massive fan of the Cagliari man (Source-Daily Mail):
‘He is one of the best players in Italy. So in the national team he has to play.’
He’s a midfield player who is keen on a pass and can easily play as a deep laying midfielder. He’s composed on the ball and doesn’t seem to get flustered when under any pressure. To survive the heat of the Old Trafford engine room you can’t be easily rattled and Barella is the type of Italian who remains calm at all times.
Nicolo is also a very intelligent player and able to pick the right pass at the right time. He’s able to run at opponents and dribble passed them and he can grab a goal or two as well. Last season, he struck six league goals.
The twenty-one year old also possesses dogged qualities and doesn’t mind getting stuck into a tackle. He’s also helped by having very good stamina, thus meaning he can cover the ground to win his team the ball back.
His form for Cagliari has seen the youngster break into Roberto Mancini’s Italy squad and Nico now has four international caps to his name.
This term according to Whoscored; Barella has a passing success rate of 83.2%, his average passes per game is around 51, he makes ob average 3.2 tackles per league game and 1.7 blocks.
The young midfielder makes more passes per game than Herrera; he also makes more key passes and more successful tackles too.
There’s plenty of room for improvement in his game but you’d expect that from a twenty-one year old.
I don’t think United will be in a rush to move Ander Herrera on, and I’d expect the Red Devils to offer the Spaniard a new deal. But keeping Herrera there for one or two more seasons could benefit Barella’s development (if he were to sign) as the young Italian could learn from his more experienced teammate, share the load and not be thrown in at the deep end.
Man United look to be going back to youth and potential now Jose Mourinho has departed and I believe Nicolo Barella fits the bill if Manchester United really are on the look-out for a new dynamic midfielder!
Posted on January 31st, 2019 by scott
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[…] United may have found a long term solution as the Red Devils are believed to be interested in Cagliari midfielder Nicolo […]