This transfer window has all been talk about what defensive ins and outs should be happening at the club at with Smalling linked with a move away along with Rojo we look like we are signing another centre back. The three names that keep being linked are Harry Maguire, Toby Alderweireld and Yerry Mina. I will look at the pros and cons of each and my personal opinion.
Harry Maguire is coming back from possibly his best season in club football as well as being a semi finalist and the World Cup with England where he was a star performer. Maguire is a great tackler and an aerial threat which united have lacked since Vidic. He has great composure and is very good at bringing the ball out which could benefit Mourinho since in pre season he has trialed a back three. One part of his game I believe he could improve on is his reading of the game and positioning as once or twice at the World Cup he was slightly out of position where a more experienced centre back would of known where he needed to be. Luckily for Maguire he has age on his side so this could improve in the coming season. Leicester do not seem to be keen on getting rid of Maguire who was their player of the season last season and a fee of around £65 million has been reported which seems a big sum but I believe he could fit out squad and be a very good player.
Toby Alderweireld is becoming a bit of a veteran premier league centre back and ever since he was at Southampton on loan in 2014 has been consistent. This consistency convinced Tottenham to buy him from Atletico Madrid which has been one of their better signings in recent times. Toby Alderwiereld has all the qualities you want in a centre back; he is calm, good tackler and an aerial threat and is classed as one of the best centre halves in the premier league but due to wage problems looks like he is looking for elsewhere. One problem is he is 29 years old and Tottenham are looking at offers towards the £55 million mark which seems very steep for a player who has a year left on his contract. Also Daniel Levy is known as a tough negotiator so talks of getting this figure down would be hard. The experience and quality he would bring to the squad would be invaluable even at £55 million.
Before January no one really knew who Yerry Mina even was, except Barcelona who signed him in January and although he didn’t play much when he did he looked like he had the potential to be a huge player. Then came the World cup and his defensive partnership with Davidson Sanchez was one of the best at the World Cup. Here is showed his composure and that he is an aerial threat with 3 goals including a last minute equaliser against England. He is a young, promising defender not too dissimilar to Eric Bailly but has some room for improvements and at £30 million it is a risk.
These options are all very good players who Manchester United would benefit from and if I was Mourinho I’d get either Maguire or Alderweireld and get Yerry Mina and play a back three with Bailly or Lindelöf. If only one was available I would choose Alderweireld as he would fit perfectly into our squad whilst bringing consistency and experience.
