Manchester United have lacked longterm thinking since Sir Alex Ferguson departed in 2013.

The club have been talking about bringing in a Sporting Director type figure to help with the football administration side of the business. The Red Devils didn’t have the best transfer window but they would’ve been happy to finally get centre-back Harry Maguire through the door.

United need to get back to the Fergie ethos of buying extremely talented youngsters and get the best crop of young British stars. In that regard they’ll have been delighted to have signed up Daniel James from Swansea City and Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace.

The squad still looks a bit light in midfield and I’d be surprised if they weren’t looking at another option to play in the forward area, especially on the righthand side.

In regard to the attacking option, I think the Old Trafford club should be going all out during the next two transfer windows and try and capture Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho.

James still looks raw in a Man Utd shirt. So it might be too early this season to see him become a regular starter in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first team.

Jesse Lingard will always offer something, usually it’s defending from the front. The twenty-six year old does the unseen work, he’s good at pressing and making runs that gives the other forwards space to run into. The issues start when you look at his attacking stats, Jesse doesn’t score enough and he only made two assists in the Premier League last term. Personally, I think Lingard would be better off by having stronger competition for his place and he could be better playing as a midfielder.

It still looks likely that Alexis Sanchez will leave the Red Devils during this transfer window. I seriously doubt the Chilean has a longterm future at Man United.

I believe Man Utd need more attacking options and another player within the squad that can change games.

Sancho could definitely fit that role.

He took a risk by leaving Manchester City’s youth side in search of first team football. Dortmund clearly offered the wideman a good plan that would see him reach their first team.

The nineteen year old already looks like a mature performer on the pitch and off it it seems as if he’s very humble and levelheaded:

“It hasn’t been easy. I’ve had to work for this. Everyone around me is keeping me grounded and keeping me focused. I’m improving every day and Marco Reus, Mario Götze and Axel Witsel are great role models to me and everyone else in the team.”

Via The Guardian

He broke into their starting line-up during his first year in Germany in the 2017-18 season. He became a first team regular last season and took his chance with aplomb.

In total last season Jadon made thirty-four appearances (twenty-six starts) in the Bundesliga last term, scoring twelve times and creating fourteen assists. His form was rewarded with a call up into Gareth Southgate’s England squad and he has won six caps.

He’s also started this season with a bang; scoring and creating an assist in Borussia Dortmund’s opening game of the current campaign.

The teenager loves attacking defences. Last year he completed around 3.3 dribbles per game and made 1.9 key passes too. He has the pace, the nifty feet work and the skills to beat opposition defenders. As his goals and assist stats show, he’s also very effective in the final third.

At United, you can only imagine that English defences would be terrified if having to face a versatile, direct and pacy front three that includes Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Sancho!

This month it was announced that the English international had agreed a new deal with his current employers (Source – BBC Sport).

Now some might see that news as a big negative in terms of United chasing Sancho’s signature but it might not be all that bad.

These days new big bumper contracts don’t automatically mean that a player will stay at a club in the longterm. Clubs like to continually tie down their top talent to keep any potential transfer fees at an optimum level. Essentially teams are just protecting themselves and making sure they have the upper hand in any transfer deal involving their better players.

By agreeing a new contract with Jadon, Dortmund might believe that a team like Man United could be circling and now they can keep him until the end of this season and they can eventually sell him for the highest fee possible.

I would be very surprised if United weren’t interested in the young forward. I’d also be surprised if they don’t start some dialogue with their German counterparts before Christmas to sound out the situation surrounding Sancho.

Any deal will certainly cost Manchester United plenty of cash, it will probably lead to them having to break their own transfer record.

But if Jadon Sancho’s the player that brings them closer to challenging for silverware, then he’d be worth it!

He would really offer another top class option to cut open defences.

He would also represent United going back to what made them successful. Getting the best young British talent!

Posted on August 23rd, 2019 by scott
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