Currently, Manchester United is considered to have "done" the left wing with two injuries to Tyrell Malacia and Luke Shaw. 48 hours after the comeback against Nottingham Forest, Raphael Varane once again reported bad news to the Old Trafford team when he had to miss nearly 2 months after a knee injury. The French centre-back has missed a third of his games since joining the Red Devils.
In the match against Nottingham, Erik ten Hag used Diogo Dalot on the left wing to patch up Shaw's position. In general, the Portuguese defender played well and was not at fault. However, if he goes the long way and faces stronger opponents, Dalot cannot be the option to play on the left wing and Ten Hag must rush to find a person. Among the targets being linked with, Nicolas Tagliafico (Lyon) and Marc Cucurella (Ch Chelsea) are quite close to The Red Devils.
If one of these two players joins the Old Trafford team in the final hour of the 2023 summer transfer window, Ten Hag will theoretically have a left-wing advantage to replace Luke Shaw. However, using a new signing just after nearly 48 hours of arrival (the England player market will close in the early hours of Saturday) is almost impossible. Most likely, Dalot will still start and people like Cucurella or Tagliafico will be on the bench. They could be used in the second half.
On the opposite wing, Aaron Wan-Bissaka is in stable form. Ten Hag must thank God that at the end of last season, there were times when the English defender was on the list of players to be liquidated. The progress of the former Crystal Palace star is helping Ten Hag to be less worried on the right wing. AWB itself is also working to improve its attack capabilities.
The Dutch strategist's biggest concern is the center-back position. At this time, Ten Hag has Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans who could play. Of these four factors, only Martinez is guaranteed a starting position and he is waiting to see who his coach will add to after Varane has been out for a long time. If there is no last-minute injury, Maguire or Lindelof will be chosen. Evans' task in this re-signing with Man United is only to reserve the domestic cup and guide young players.
During the 2022-2023 season, Martinez paired Maguire for 7 matches in all competitions. Lindelof has more 9.9 and also has a higher win percentage. When Martinez paired with Lindelof, Man United won 8 and lost 1. Maguire has five wins and two losses. In particular, when Martinez paired with Lindelof or Maguire, Manchester United never ended the match in a draw. This could be a reference for Ten Hag and in fact, Lindelof has proven himself more, especially in the end of last season, in the 2023 summer tour.
If we look back at the journey of the "Red Devils" throughout the last season, it can be seen that the central defender pair of this team is very messy. The starting pair is still Varane - Martinez, but due to Varane's many injuries and Martinez also having a long period of being out, Ten Hag had to patch him many times. Some central defender pairs last season, except for Martinez - Varane, also have Mengi - Martinez, Shaw - Varane, Lindelof - Maguire or Shaw - Lindelof. Especially when he was short, Casemiro also had to withdraw to play as a central defender.
